The Female Gaze in Art and Photography

Praise for volume one: ‘Through the work of the artists captured in these pages, selected and discussed by Anita Selzer, we can see and imagine a world in which the female gaze is honoured and nurtured, a world that embraces difference and diversity and in which equity is a given. The Female Gaze in Art and Photography reminds us of how far we have come and that there is still work to do.’ – Professor Barbara Bolt, University of Melbourne

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In the first volume of The Female Gaze in Art and Photography, readers were invited to explore the work of twenty contemporary artists from across the globe. Author and academic Anita Selzer skilfully examined how art can be viewed outside of the male gaze, seen through women’s eyes, via a female gaze.

In this volume, Selzer delves into the past to explore artists who are no longer with us but who paved the way for the female gaze. The volume includes artists from across the globe, including Paula Rego (Portugal-Britian), Birgit Jurgenssen (Austria), Claude Cahun (France), Romaine Brooks (Italy), Tamara de Lempicka (Poland), Maria Lassnig (Austria) Elizabeth Catlett (United States) and Sue Ford (Australia). They all used a female gaze in their art to reflect their way of seeing the world.

Expanding on the themes of the first volume, Volume Two emphasises the richness and diversity of the female gaze. Selzer writes with care, sketching biographies of the women artists and photographers, and analysing their works of art to share with us how they used the female gaze in their creative endeavours.

Interestingly, themes explored in volume one of The Female Gaze in Art and Photography – like love and loss, the lifecycle of women, motherhood, gender, sexual and racial identity – continue to be explored here, along with socially constructed and expected roles of women. This new volume will be a valuable addition to sit alongside the first volume, while also presenting an exciting read to anyone interested in some of the most significant and worthy figures in art history.