Louise Moillon

The life and career of Louise Moillon (1609/10–1696) offers a fascinating case study of a supremely talented artist whose posthumous reputation has been mired in invisibility. Born and raised in Paris, Moillon was the sole woman in a circle of Calvinist Protestant émigrés who brought their tradition of still-life painting with them from Flanders. During her lifetime, she was able to enjoy a degree of professional independence and attract enough recognition to be regarded as on a level with her male counterparts, yet her exquisite work and enigmatic story are little known today. This illustrated biography examines some of the ways in which Moillon’s story has been represented since the revival of interest in her work and draws on recent scholarship to situate the painter in her rightful place. Offering a sweeping exploration of the genre of still life, this book also chronicles how a woman in early modern France was able to capture the attention of the artistic world while dissecting why her prominence waned in the centuries following her death.

Louise Moillon was the paramount artist who advanced the credibility of the still-life image in Seventeenth-Century France. Nature was her main inspiration, and from her home in the famed Saint-Germain-des-Prés, she greated a genre new to the art world. This is a fascinating biography personalizing the enigmatic life of the artist with select illustrations of her naturalistic expressions. The context is factual taking one inside the world of Moillon that is certain to captivate the reader. She lived in a time of religious turmoil with protestors burning churches and committing terrible atrocities. Yet, in spite of all this, Moillon with her love and devotion to nature, painted images depicting peace and love.

This book includes some 200 complete entries from the award-winning Dictionary of Women Artists, as well as a selection of introductory essays from the main volume.

This volume offers an encompassing portrait of the Huguenots, among the best known of early modern religious minorities. It investigates the principal lines of historical development and suggests the interpretative frameworks that scholars have advanced for understanding the Huguenot experience.

Presents brief articles which provide information on various art forms, periods, and artists. Includes information on Classical, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rocco, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Expressionism, and Twentieth Century Art, art of different cultures, other art forms, and projects.

Ground-breaking scientific research and new philosophical perspectives currently challenge our anthropocentric cultural assumptions of the vegetal world. As humanity begins to grapple with the urgency imposed by climate change, reconsidering human/plant relationships becomes essential to grant a sustainable future on this planet. It is in this context that a multifaceted approach to plant-life can reveal the importance of ecological interconnectedness and lead to a more nuanced consideration of the variety of living organisms and ecosystems with which we share the planet. In Botanical Speculations, researchers, artists, art historians, and activists collaboratively map the uncharted territories of new forms of botanical knowledge. This book emerges from a symposium held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in September 2017, and capitalizes on contemporary art’s ability to productively unhinge scientific theories and certainties in order to help us reconsider unquestioned beliefs about this living world.