Looking For a Good Book

This is an important series of art books.  The format for each book is generally the same, so my review will be the same.  The four volumes that make up this book set are packed with incredible information and beautiful photos of a wide range of art.

The subtitle (“A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960”) implies a fairly narrow focus, but it is awe-inspiring to see just how many women are included in the series. I am by no means an authority (or even an avid fan, for that matter) of the subject matter specifically, but I’m always interested in seeing art that I personally think of as ‘good’ or that ‘speaks’ to me in some way. I started book-marking pages with art that I felt was exceptional and writing down the artists’ names so that I could research them and their work, but it became apparent fairly early that I was book-marking nearly every page. It would have been easier to make note of the art that I did NOT find worthwhile.

The book gives a detailed mini-biography of the artist – family life, education, influences, associations, shows – and then a sampling of the artists work. Even with my digital copy of the book, these photographs of the art are stunning.

I really liked that author/editor Maurine St. Gaudens starts each mini-biography with a close-up of the artists signature from one of her works. It’s a brilliant way to introduce the artist as the signature is often more telling to a person’s character than a photo or portrait of the artist herself. I so came to look forward to the signature that when it wasn’t there (in the case of at least one sculptor) it stuck out.

Volume 3 is the selected artists with the last name beginning with “L” through “R.” Volume 3 also has the most additional materials with three appendices.  This volume includes:

Thoughts on the Experiences of California Women Artists – (uncredited)
Appendices: A Glimpse of an Era
Appendix B: San Diego: Panama-California Exposition, January 1915-1916, and California Pacific International Exposition, 1935-1936
Appendix C: San Francisco: Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, 1915
Appendix D: Artists in the Fourth Annual Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, 1935, and other Miscellaneous Ephemera for Artists in California

The artists included in this volume are:

Helen Greenleaf Lane
Bessie Lasky
Frances Lauderbach
Mary Lehman
Kathryn Leighton
Jeanette Maxfield
Mary Amanda Lewis
Louise Leyden
Ruth A. Lindsay
Beverly Morgan Lohman
Matilda Lotz
Janice Lovoos
Eleanor Merriam Lukits
Bertha Lum
Helen Lundeberg
Katharine H. MacDonald
Iris MacKown
Irene MacLean
Kate Maher
Claire Mahl Moore
Grace E. Mallon
Gertrude Mattocks
Beulah May
Nell Brooker Mayhew
Evelyn McCormick
Grace McLean
Clara L. McQuaid
Antonia Melville
Esther Meyer
Anna H. Miller
Edith Maude Miller
Evylena Nunn Miller
Edna Zyl Modie
Ella (aka Ella Odorfer) Moen
Mary DeNeale Morgan
Nellie Gail Moulton
Helen Newton
Mary “mazie” E. Nicholl
Lille May Nicholson
Louise Everett Nimmo
Elizabeth Norton
Abigail Tyler Oakes (aka Mrs. A T. Oakes)
Helen Clark Oldfield
Ruth Powers Ortlieb
Patsy O’Toole
Emmy Lou Packard
Mabel Packard
Anna Palmer
Hermoine Palmer
Marion Parsons
Angelica Schuyler Patterson
Elsie Palmer Payne
Ruth Peabody
Agnes Pelton
Ollie Montgomery Perry
Constance Peters
Lucy Valentine Pierce
Polia Pillin
Ethel E. Pletsch
Hazel Coldwell Clark Pletsch
Julia S. Gunnison Porter
Love Porter
Mary L. Pottenger
Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli
Mildred Rackley
Augusta Rathbone
Marion Churchill Raulston
Marjorie Reed
Deborah Remington
Helen Hughes Reynolds
Virginia Roberts
Jessie Howe Robison
Annette Robyns
Doris Rosenthal
Helen Rousseau
Shirley Russell

Looking for a good book? Emerging from the Shadows, Vol. III: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960 is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in art, women’s studies, art history, artist biographies or anyone just interested in a high quality art book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Emerging from the Shadows, Vol. III: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960

author/editor: Maurine St. Gaudens

publisher: Schiffer Publishing

ISBN: 0764348868

hardcover, 320 pages