Research Catalog

Title

Muse : uncovering the hidden figures behind art history's masterpieces / Ruth Millington ; illustrated by Dina Razin.

Author

Millington, Ruth

Publication

• New York ; London : Pegasus Books, 2022
• ©2022

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Razin, Dina

Description

312 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• The fascinating true stories of thirty incredible muses-and their role in some of art history's most well-known masterpieces.
• "We instantly recognize many of their faces from the world's most iconic artworks—but just who was Picasso's 'Weeping Woman'? Or the burglar in Francis Bacon's oeuvre? Why was Grace Jones covered in graffiti? Far from posing silently, muses have brought emotional support, intellectual energy, career-changing creativity, and practical help to artists. However, the perception of the muse is that of a passive, powerless model (usually young, attractive, and female) at the mercy of an influential and older male artist. Could this impression be incorrect and unfair? Is this trope a romanticized myth? Have people embraced, even sought, the status of muse? Most importantly, where would artists be without them? In Muse, Ruth Millington's goal is to re-assess and re-claim that word in a celebratory narrative that takes ownership and demonstrates how outdated the common perception of that word is. Muse also explores the idea of ‘muse’ in a different way and includes performance artists and celebrities, iconic figures we perhaps haven’t considered before as muses, such as Tilda Swinton and Grace Jones. By delving into the real-life relationships that models have held with the artists who immortalized them, it will expose the influential and active part they have played in contributing to the artwork they inspired, and explore the various ways people have subverted stereotypical ‘muse’ roles. From job supervisors to homeless men in Harlem, Muse will reveal the unexpected, overlooked, and forgotten models of art history. Through the stories of thirty remarkable lives, from performing muses to muses who have been turned into messages, this book will deconstruct reductive stereotypes of the muse, and reframe it as a momentous and empowered agent of art history." -- Amazon

Alternative Title

• Uncovering the hidden figures behind art history's masterpieces
• Muse

Subject

• Artists' models
• Women in art
• Inspiration
• Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
• Modèles (Art)
• Femmes dans l'art
• inspiration
• ART / History
• BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
• ART / Art & Politics

Genre/Form

Instructional and educational works.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-309).

Contents

Introduction -- The artist as muse. Juan de Pareja: a face of freedom ; Dora Maar: the weeping woman ; Emilie Flöge: dressing Klimpt's kiss ; Peter Schlesinger: sink or swim -- The self as muse. Artemisia Gentileschi: survivor, painter, slayer ; Frida Kahlo: heroine of pain ; Sunil Gupta: playing dead ; Nilupa Yasmin: weaving a way in -- Family albums. Helena Dumas: childhood uncensored ; Beyoncé: the fertility goddess ; Fukases Sukezo: father figure -- For the love of the muse. Ada Katz: American beauty ; George Dyer: Bacon and the burglar ; Lawrence Alloway: the critic stripped bare ; Gala Dalí: queen of the castle -- Performing muse. Moro: homemade sushi ; Ulay: breathing in Marina Abramović ; Grace Jones: graffiti goddess ; Tilda Swinton: surrealist shapeshifter ; Lila Nunes: guardian angel -- Muse of a movement. Elizabeth Siddall: Ophelia awakens ; Sunday Reed: in the paradise garden ; Lady Ottoline Morrell: Bloomsbury bohemian ; Marchesa Luisa Casati: Medusa's stare -- Muse as message. Anna Christina Olson: Christina's world ; Doreen Lawrence: "no woman, no cry" ; Sue Tilley: supervisor sleeping ; Ollie Henderson: start the riot ; Suoleo: icon of Harlem -- Epilogue: The muse as message.

ISBN

• 9781639361557
• 1639361553

LCCN

99991802536

OCLC

• on1281582474
• 1281582474
• SCSB-14360062

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries