The Easel

5th November 2019

A New Exhibition Shows Women as Artists, Not Muses

The Victorian era Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painted pretty but hapless women in need of (male) rescue. No wonder they are ridiculed. Were the women members of that group better artists? The above piece praises them, perhaps out of sisterly obligation. A tougher view is that few had much talent. A clear exception was Evelyn De Morgan, whose masterful touch “makes the wan pre-Raphaelite men who surround her look like wimps.”

29th October 2019

‘If you can outlive most men, all of a sudden you can be venerated’ – an interview with Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith eludes the definitive statement. A self-described “thing maker”, she makes sculptures, prints, tapestries, photography and more. Her sources of inspiration are similarly various – “the overlooked detail of the everyday”. Perhaps Smith doesn’t want to be defined. She hesitated before putting colour in some recent tapestries – “Colour seems too personal, self-expressive to me – too scary.”