This book proposes new understandings of modern life in Britain by bringing constructs of female spirituality centre stage and examining three ‘forgotten’ artists identified with the Pre-Raphaelites and Victorianism.
Thomas Cooper Gotch, Robert Anning Bell and Frederick Cayley Robinson are resituated squarely within the tumultuous social and cultural changes of the period. Becoming visible again, in more inclusive histories, allows such artists not only to re-inhabit but to reshape narratives of modernism, reanimating the scholarly discourse and creating a dynamic cultural history of modern Britain expressed through their striking visions of womanhood.
This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, gender studies and British studies.
1. ‘The Potent Suggestion of a Spiritual Force’: Feminism, Pre-Raphaelitism, the Late Nineteenth-Century ‘Gender Crisis’ and the Forgotten Paintings of Thomas Cooper Gotch 2. ‘Out into the Sun’: Amazons, Suffragettes and Women Outdoors, with Reference to Paintings by Robert Anning Bell 3. Frederick Cayley Robinson, a Forgotten Modern British Artist: Modernity, Symbolist Interiors and Spiritual Viewing 4. Frederick Cayley Robinson: Modern Life, Spiritual Expectancy and ‘The Face of a Woman’
Alice Eden is a cultural historian, writer and curator.
