''Dictionary of Women Artists'' is a two-volume dictionary of 600 women artists born before 1945, going back to the Middle Ages. It was edited by
Delia Gaze with 23 advisors and over 100 contributors. Gaze is a writer for the
Oxford DNB
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
and wrote several biographies that were released in the 2004 edition of the ODNB.
The book is widely cited as a reference for Western women artists and has a disclaimer that it is biased towards Western artists because of the constraints imposed on the selection. The book includes a list of artists in alphabetical order and chronological order and a bibliography of sources. Preceding the biographies is a series of "introductory surveys", a product of a somewhat dated notion in gender studies that women can be grouped into categories. There are many women artists mentioned in the surveys whose biography was not included, because there was not enough documented material to fulfill the inclusion criteria. The work was meant as a follow-up to a previous reference work including 21,000 women painters, sculptors, printmakers, and illustrators by Chris Petteys, the ''Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900'', published in 1985.
Reviewed Work: ''DICTIONARY OF WOMEN ARTISTS'' 2 vol. by Delia Gaze
Review by: Sheila Klos in ''Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America'', Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring 1998), pp. 49-50 The problem with that work is that the more well-documented women were included with countless "one-liners".
In 2001 Gaze produced a new "Concise" edition with a smaller selection in a single volume.
References
External links
Book review
in ''Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
''
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1990s books
Biographical dictionaries of women
Books about women
Art and architecture dictionaries
Art history books
Biographies about artists