For art historian Higgie, author of The Mirror and the Palette, it is a matter of fact that as long as humans have been making art, women artists have been on the periphery. Readers can easily corroborate the author’s contention by noting the dates when women were finally admitted to various art schools or the percentage of works by women at any given show or exhibition. Indeed, what’s remarkable about this book is that Higgie doesn’t approach the subject with a particularly feminist lens. The artists she profiles are women who happened to have interest in or connection to spiritualism, but with few exceptions, the author doesn’t make a case for their gender informing either their art or their connection to the otherworldly. As readers meet unsung heroes of art and spirituality across time and space, they also travel with Higgie on her personal journey as she discovers and explores this fascinating facet of art history. Near the end of the book, she describes a conversation with an artist friend: “I ask Liliane what the word ‘spirituality’ means to her. She thinks for a moment and shakes her head. ‘Although the ultimate goal is to be enlightened, I don’t think you can pin it down. It’s different for everyone. It’s just a path and you never reach the end of it because you want to keep going.’ ” Like Liliane, Higgie eschews definitive conclusions about the connections among spiritualism, women artists, and modern art, but she paints a variety of compelling portraits. For more in-depth profiles of women artists, check out Katy Hessel’s The Story of Art Without Men.
An illuminating commentary on much more than art, demonstrating how new ideas and cultural shifts take hold.
