Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry & Revolution in the Life of Adelaide Labille-Guiard

(Hardback)

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Discover the story of Adlade Labille-Guiarda long-ignored artist and feminist of eighteenth-century Francein this imaginative and illuminating biography from an award-winning writer.

Born in Paris in 1749, Adlade Labille-Guiard rose from shopkeepers daughter to an official portraitist of the royal courtonly to have her achievements reduced to ash by the French Revolution. While she defied societal barriers to become a member of the exclusive Acadmie Royale and a mentor for other ambitious women painters, she left behind few writings, and her legacy was long overshadowed by celebrated portraitist and memoirist lisabeth Vige-Lebrun.

But Adlade Labille-Guiards story lives on. In this engaging biography, Bridget Quinn applies her insightful interpretation of art history to Labille-Guiards life. She offers a fascinating new perspective on the artists feminism, her sexuality, and her vision of the world. Quinn expertly blends close analyses of paintings with broader context about the era and inserts delicately fictionalized interpersonal scenes that fill the gaps in the historical record. This is a compelling and inspiring look at an artist too long overlooked.

INSPIRING HISTORICAL NONFICTION: Despite numerous setbacks, Labille-Guiard built a legacy as an accomplished royal portraitist and a mentor to other young women artists of her era. This tale ofsolidarity, self-belief, and true passion for painting is sure to inspire contemporary creatives and women today.

CREATIVE AND COMPELLING ART HISTORY BOOK: Bridget Quinn is an award-winning author and art historian who has spent years researching Adlade Labille-Guiards work and life. She vividly evokes both andweaves a compelling narrative at the intersection of art, gender, and politics.

GORGEOUS ART REPRODUCTIONS THROUGHOUT: This biography features full-color images of artwork by Adlade Labille-Guiard, her rumored rival lisabeth Vige-Lebrun, and other artists of the era, including portraits of key players in the narrative. These images, interspersed throughout the book, offer valuable visual references to illuminate the engaging text even further.

AN ARTFUL GIFT BOOK: Uniquely crafted and thoroughly researched, this volume makes an outstanding gift for art history enthusiasts and readers who love exploring untold stories in women's history.

Perfect for:

• Readers of memoirs andbiographies
• History buffs and fans of historical fiction and nonfiction
• Artists, art lovers, museumgoers, and art history students
• Feminists and readers seeking feminist books
• Francophiles and those interested in the French Revolution
• Fans ofPortrait of a Lady on Fireand other historical dramas

Reviews

"Deliciously inventive.... Portraying key moments from her subject's life in vivid scenes and colorful dialogue, Quinn breathes life into her cast of characters and the anxious times in which they lived.... This excellent work of art history deserves a wide readership." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Portrait of a Woman is a delightful romp through the triumphs and tragedies of the eighteenth century, magnified through the experience of one truly fascinating figure. If Adlade Labille-Guiard isn't already on your art historical radar, Bridget Quinn's book assures that she will be." --Jennifer Dasal, author of ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History
"Portrait of a Woman marks the latest chapter in Bridget Quinn's strikingly original and, dare I say, revolutionary work that shines a light on the unsung heroes of history, namely women. The life of the artist in any era is damn hard, and none more so than the contrarians who aren't favored by patronage or luck. Adlade Labille-Guiard's talent and ambition made her a great painter, but her sex mixed with an uncompromising nature guaranteed that she would never be one of the French neoclassical darlings. Portrait of a Woman corrects the record, as it sings of a painter worth our knowing, and proves Quinn's powerful reminder that chiaroscuro, the light and dark, is all around us." --Carol Edgarian, New York Times-bestselling author of Vera
"Reading this book, I became enthralled with the extraordinary and tragic life of eighteenth-century French painter Adlade Labille-Guiard. Quinn subtly twins Labille-Guiard's growth as an artist with her own as a student of art, gracefully braiding memoir with real and imagined eighteenth-century scenes of painting and violent revolution and domestic life. This book is a great achievement and continues Quinn's essential work of bringing female artists to the forefront of our attention and changing the canon." --Matthew Zapruder, author of Story of a Poem and Father's Day
"Strong, original, and sprightly, Portrait of a Woman is art history for our own tumultuous times. Here's Adlade Labille-Guiard alongside her Acadmie Royale counterpart lisabeth Vige-Lebrun, with no limit to just one great woman artist!" --Nell Irvin Painter, author of Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over

Author Bio

Bridget Quinn is a writer, art historian, and critic. She is the author of the award-winning Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order) and She Votes: How U.S. Women Won Suffrage, and What Happened Next. A graduate of New York Universitys Institute of Fine Arts and a regular contributor to the arts magazine Hyperallergic, Quinn is a sought-after speaker on women and art. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.