Women Artists

We have them.

Working in all styles and mediums across the breadth of almost a century and a half, mostly American, especially Californian, but also from around the rest of the world as well.

We include not only painters and sculptors but also a few of the more notable ceramists and jewelry designers represented in our collections. We are very proud to present this overview of an astonishing array of talent, finally coming into full recognition, of brilliant and determined women getting their proper due.

And proper due must now also be given to our close colleague Maurine St. Gaudens.

In the course of a long and fruitful association with the scholar Maurine St. Gaudens we have always benefited hugely from her knowledge. And now she has published what is now the definitive study of women artists working in California. It gives us great pleasure to be able to point you in its direction.

https://emergingfromtheshadows.com/

We can't recommend this book too highly. We keep two copies handy!

Emerging from the Shadows

This four-volume set presents the careers of 320 women artists working in California as well as throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. Their work encompasses a broad range of styles—from the realism of the nineteenth century to the modernism of the twentieth. Within these volumes are works in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, illustration and print-making.

  • More than 2,000 images trace the 100-year history of 320 women artists
  • Features artworks from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century
  • Rare historical photographs
  • Previously unknown artists and artwork, rediscovered and published for the first time
Throughout her life, Maurine St. Gaudens has been surrounded by art and creativity. She is the granddaughter of noted San Francisco jeweler, Maurice Saint-Gaudens, and the third-cousin of the esteemed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Maurine’s artistic background led to her career as a respected Fine Arts conservator and the establishment of the Maurine St. Gaudens Studio in Pasadena, California.

 

As a historian, scholar, and proponent of the arts, Maurine has spent her life dedicated to the pursuit and recognition of artists and an examination of their oeuvres. In conjunction with her professional work as a conservator, Maurine has served as guest curator for numerous art exhibitions throughout Southern California and as a consultant and manager to the estates of various artists.

Maurine has previously edited the book Sam Hyde Harris 1889-1977, A Retrospective: A Pictorial Biography of His Life and Work–a comprehensive presentation on the influential California artist, Sam Hyde Harris. In addition, Maurine has been a frequent contributor to numerous art publications and articles.

Always a proponent for artists from the past whose story has yet to be told, Maurine has established a reputation for recognizing and including unknown artists, particularly women artists, in her exhibitions. Her work as a historian, and her perseverance in researching unknown artists, has brought Maurine to her most recent publication Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960.