Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
Bridget Quinn first introduced readers to the eighteenth century French painter Adélaïde Labille-Guiard in Broad Strokes, her rollicking account of fifteen women artists “who made art and made history (in that order).”* In Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Quinn returns to her subject in a work that is equal parts biography, historiography, and memoir. She traces not only Adélaïde’s life,** but the artist’s role in Quinn’s own life as art historian and author. She introduces the reader to the broader context of art and artists in pre-revolutionary France and the restrictions on women artists within that context. She examines Adélaïde’s artistic rivalry with the better known artist Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, which was in some ways constructed as a result of those restrictions. She follows Adélaïde’s attempts to navigate the French art world, the royal system of patronage, and the dangers of the French revolution—and her support of other women artists. Along the way, she makes Adélaïde’s mastery as a painter clear for the modern reader/viewer.
Personally, I have every intention of visiting the masterpiece that hangs in the Met on my next visit to New York thanks to Bridget Quinn.
If you are interest in art, women’s history, or the places where they overlap, this one’s for you.
*I just noticed the double meaning of "Broad" in the title. *Duh*
** See my interview with Quinn in my series of interviews for Women’s History Month in 1922*** for her discussion of using first names for women artists. Her article on the subject triggered my own fascination with the subject.
***I’m running the series again this March, featuring some good people doing a wide range of work.
Women in the Valley of the Kings
One of my favorite books as a child was C.W. Ceram’s Gods’ Graves and Scholars. His aim, described in his foreword, was “to portray the dramatic qualities of archaeology, its human side.” And at some level he succeeded admirably. Ceram is largely responsible for my lifelong fascination with archaeology. It was only when Kathleen Sheppard’s Women in the Valley of the Kings landed on my desk that I realized just how narrow his definition of "human" was.
Subtitled The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age, Sheppard’s book tells the stories of women who worked in the field at the same time as, and sometimes alongside, well-known pioneers of Egyptology like Flinders Petrie and Howard Carter. I will admit, this book would not have hooked 8-year-old Pamela the way Ceram’s did. There is less adventure and more of what Ceram describes as “bookish toil.”* Sheppard’s archaeologists fight not only the hardships of working in the desert, but social expectations about what women could/should do. While some of them did discover important sites and artifacts, much of their most important work happened off-site. where they built and maintained the infrastructure that made the study of ancient Egypt possible. As Sheppard sums it up, “…women recorded, organized, catalogued, and corresponded. Men got dirty, had adventures, and excavated artifacts. Women, in fact, founded the institutions that would received these artifacts and allow the rest of the world to see them.” No less important, but definitely less flashy.
*Sheppard also acknowledges the inherent role of colonialism in the development of Egyptology, something missing from Ceram’s account, which was originally published in 1943.
What’s Up for 2025?
It’s a tradition here on the Margins that I use my first post of the year to share the historical topics that I plan on spending time with in the coming year. It’s a way to put my thoughts in order. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but I hope some of you find it enticing. Maybe even thought-provoking.
My first answer when I asked myself what I’d be working on in 2025 was “I have no flipping idea.” But in fact that isn’t true. The Dragon From Chicago will continue to take up a good deal of my time, energy, and enthusiasm. (And rightly so.) I already have speaking gigs, virtual and in real life, lined up well into the year, and I am hoping for more.*
But, much as I love talking about Sigrid Schultz, I need to re-fill the well. Here are some other historical topics that I expect to be thinking, reading, and writing about this year:
1. Women’s history in general. I have a big pile of unread books to work my way through during this period when I am relatively deadline free.** And a list of more books that I plan to add to the pile as soon as I get to my neighborhood bookstore. (My Own True Love gave me a nice gift card for Christmas and I am eager to use it.)
2. Women cartoonists and illustrators in general. (The Queens of Animation made me curious.***)
3. Ancient Egypt: an old passion with a new impetus. I’m taking a trip down the Nile with my BFF from graduate school. So. Dang. Excited.
4. Plane-spotting in World War II, and some other aviation topics.
If I’m lucky, something totally unexpected will catch my imagination and send me on a detour. I love a good detour. And I love taking you on the trip with me.
Here’s to a New Year filled with health, happiness, and history-nerdery for us all.
*And speaking of speaking, if you belong to a group that needs speakers, send me an email and we’ll try to work it out. Zoom has made things possible that were not possible before. If you want to know where I’ll be or find links to podcasts I’ve been on, the newsletter is the most reliable place to check . I am ashamed to admit that I have fallen behind on updating the events page on my website. And until I started typing this I had forgotten about the events page on this blog altogether. (Moving updates up the to-do list as I speak. So to speak.)
**Except for blog posts, and newsletters, and prepping for speaking gigs, and… Well, you get the idea. There is always something in the pipeline.
***This is how it starts.