Strong Women

Anonymous Was A Woman: The First 25 Years celebrates the transformative impact of women artists on contemporary art since the founding of the titular grant. In addition to new essays, the book offers a biographical description with selected artworks of each artist who received the Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) award from its founding in 1996 through 2020, a period in which the accomplishments of women have thoroughly transformed contemporary art.  

Geometric abstraction as a worldview: artists like Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Sonia Delaunay played an essential part in the development of non- representational art. The volume presents an overview of the evolution of geometric abstract art and in addition to the applied arts takes into account the female perspective of the Global South with promising new discoveries.

Ylla (1911–55) devoted herself exclusively to animal portraiture at a time when no one had thought of only photographing animals. Driven by her symbiotic relationship with animals, she created a new genre in animal photography: the expression and personality in animals. Ylla: The Birth of Modern Animal Photography recounts the eventful odyssey of a "New Woman" par excellence, fearless and knowing no limits.

Expansion and the permanent crossing of boundaries, freedom and autonomy form the cornerstones of Grosse’s (* 1961) oeuvre. Her creative work is experimental and unpredictable. With many photos from the artist’s private archive this volumes provides a profound insight into her working method, her sources of inspiration and the processes through which she generates her ideas.

Since 2018, Katharina Cibulka and her team have been mounting hand-embroidered scaffolding nets on well-frequented, prominent construction sites, inviting the public to join the conversation on feminist issues. Each sentence begins with "As long as..." and ends with "...I will be a feminist", addressing existing inequalities.  

The German-Swedish painter Lotte Laserstein (1898-1993) is one of the most exciting rediscoveries of recent years. The richly illustrated book with essays on Laserstein’s production in Berlin and her reception in Sweden as well as unpublished documentary material will enrich the existing knowledge of Laserstein’s life and work.

Rough, unadorned and dismissed as ‟gutter art” in conservative circles: Käthe Kollwitz used her art uncompromisingly as a political voice for the social and human misery of her time. Her focus always lies on human dignity. This volume provides a wide-ranging insight into the artist’s commitment and creative work. Her oeuvre is more topical than ever today.

Illuminating the artistic contributions and perspectives of women, this book reinserts the important 19th-century American artist Susie Barstow into the history of the Hudson River School and presents contemporary artists who expand how we think about “land” and “landscape” today. Engaging multigenerational perspectives, it launches an expanded narrative that recenters women in the canon of American landscape art.

"Chakaia Booker: The Observance" is the first comprehensive monograph on this important yet understudied American artist. Illuminating more than three decades of Booker’s practice, the publication explores her signature form – monumental works made of rubber – while showcasing her innovations across mediums including photography, painting, and prints.

In her elective home country of Mexico, the artist Olga Costa (1913–1993), a native of Leipzig, has long been established as an important female voice of Mexican Modernism. This volume presents impressively her autonomous artistic work between Mexican and European Modernism, and follows the traces of her life from Germany out into the world and back again.