Out of Print

Mirror, Mirror
Self-portraits by women artists
Liz Rideal
With essays by Professor Whitney Chadwick and Frances Borzello

'Fascinating exploration of self-portraits by female artists ...'
Times Magazine

The self-portrait has always been an artist's most intriguing vehicle for analysis and self-expression. The unusual freedom offered the artist by the dual occupation of the roles of both subject and creator has meant that self-portraiture has been of especial value and interest in the work of women artists.

Mirror Mirror explores the history and function of the self-portrait in the work of forty women artists, from the mid-17th century to the present day. It covers portraits in all media, from oil painting to photography, from woodcut to ceramic sculpture, and includes self-portraits from such major artists as Mary Beale, Gwen John and Dame Barbara Hepworth, as well as lesser-known figures such as the Zinkeisen sisters, Madame Yevonde and Helen Chadwick. There are also portraits by women artists known primarily for their work in other media - including the astonishing self-portrait ceramic relief by Susie Cooper.

The works themselves appear chronologically, and include biographical details of the artists. They are supported by essays from two leading art historians in this field - Professor Whitney Chadwick, who discusses ideas of style and technique, including the artists' exploration of their own identity; and Dr Frances Borzello, who presents the historical background and artistic context to the works illustrated here.

Liz Rideal is an artist who, as Art Education Officer at the National Portrait Gallery, has curated exhibitions and run public prgrammes over the last twenty years. Recently she has had solo exhibitions at Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York, and at the HackelBury Fine Art, London.
Professor Whitney Chadwick is Professor of Art at San Francisco State University. She has lectured and published widely in the areas of surrealism, feminism and contemporary art, and her books include Women, Art and Society and Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks.
Frances Borzello is a writer on the social history of art. Her recent books include Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits and A World of Our Own: Women as Artists Since the Renaissance.

240 x 200mm, 120 pages
61 illustrations, 41 in colour
ISBN 1 85514 323 2
£15 (paperback)

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 20 November 2008