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"Beginning in 1877 with Vassar College's first commission of a female artist to portray a contemporary female figure, through the ensuing years, the work of an increasing number of women artists was exhibited in various College buildings and discussed in print, including paintings by Lilly Martin Spencer, Cecilia Beaux, and Mary Cassatt. Women Picturing Women traces the history of artists and artists' subjects at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College"--

This publication serves as the first comprehensive catalogue of Joan Semmel's work, tracing her career from early abstract-expressionist paintings to her influential feminist art and activism, culminating in her current monumental work focused on her own mature body. Readers will explore nearly fifty-five years of Semmel's extraordinary output, featuring forty paintings and a selection of rarely seen drawings, collages, and photographs. Despite facing persistent censorship and the challenges of sexism and ageism, Semmel (b. 1932) creates art that reflects the ongoing struggle for women's equal representation, autonomy over their bodies and sexuality, and empowerment through self-expression. As sex and body positivity movements gain traction globally, it is essential to acknowledge Semmel's pivotal yet under-recognized role in advancing these ideas. While she is celebrated as a significant feminist painter, her influence on representational painting in the U.S. remains less acknowledged. The authors will examine Semmel within feminist and figurative painting frameworks, reflecting her desire to be recognized in these contexts, particularly regarding her innovative portrayal of the nude body. At 87, Semmel continues to produce vital work that challenges the conventions of figurative painting.

American artist Louise Fishman’s (born 1939) physical and process-driven work reimagines the Abstract Expressionist model into a vehicle for dialogue about history and emotion centered in the artist’s identities as Jewish, feminist, and lesbian. Though she is primarily a painter, Fishman has worked with a number of different mediums to create works on paper since the early 1960s. A Question of Emphasis presents a vast selection of these works in a single volume, encompassing collage, oil and wax, thread, acrylic text, ink, charcoal, printmaking, oil stick, watercolor and tempera. Fishman conceives of her works on paper not as studies for later paintings but as discrete pieces of art, generally small- and medium-scale and frequently sculptural and tactile. New writing as well as an interview between Fishman and artist Ulrike Müller accompany a wide selection of works.