The artist’s self-portraits both became a foundation for those of later female artists and self-consciously expressed the new elite status achieved by this Lombard artist of noble lineage who worked as court portraitist for the Spanish monarchy. Chapter II studies the numerous self-portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first great Renaissance female artist to have an international career. The chapter focuses on Renaissance concepts of art and the very role of the artist.

Chapter I introduces the self-portrait as it developed specific to the Renaissance and in relation to a Greco-Roman classical ideal. Uncompromising, probing, thoughtful, and as provocative and exciting as the period itself, The Power of Feminist Art is an immensely stunning book.WONDER WOMEN: SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, LAVINIA FONTANA AND ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE SELF-PORTRAIT PAINTING BY FEMALE ARTISTS by Rosa Lena Reed Robinson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History at Studio Art Centers International Florence, Italy 2017 This thesis is focused on the self-portrait painting practice by three female artists from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. The last section of the book traces the ups and downs of the movement, as experienced through the backlash of the 1980s and the resurgence of women's issues in the 1990s. Performance art, social protest and public art, and collaboration exploration of such formerly taboo aesthetic areas as 'Pattern and Decoration' and subjects such as divinity and the body viewed from female perspectives are among the multiple aspects of the Feminist Art movement. We follow the development of the movement as seen in the various feminist organizations, networks, exhibitions, and publications it generated and most particularly in the emergence of feminist art. We learn about the first feminist art education programs, with artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro helping to lay the foundation about the now legendary Womanhouse project and about such banner exhibitions as 'Women Artists: 1550-1950,' organized in 1976 by art historians Linda Nochlin and Ann Sutherland Harris. Together, they have created this landmark volume, the first history and analysis documenting this fertile and dynamic period of artistic growth. Garrard, professors of art history at The American University in Washington, D.C., bring together many of the influential art historians, critics, and artists who participated in the events of the 1970s.

In The Power of Feminist Art, coeditors Norma Broude and Mary D. Summary: Since its inception nearly 25 years ago the Feminist Art movement has presented a challenge to mainstream modernism that has radically transformed the art world.

Mary d garrard