Making Her Mark

Andaleeb Badiee Banta & Alexa Greist, with Theresa Kutasz Christensen

Making Her Mark

A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800

Winner, Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement (Research) and Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender Collaborative Project Award
Second Prize Winner, Alcuin Society Book Design Awards (Prose Illustrated)
Silver Medal Winner, IPPY Award (Fine Arts)
Honorable Mention, George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award

Gathering together just over 250 objects, including paintings, prints, scientific illustrations, textiles, sculpture, metalwork and furniture, Making Her Mark illuminates the astonishing diversity and breadth of women's contributions to art of the pre-modern era (c. 1400–1800).

In this important re-examination of early modern European art, an international team of scholars and curators assess the critical concepts that have shaped Western culture’s understanding of what constitutes great art. In its recalibration of gender imbalances, this impressive volume offers an alternative view of the history of European art and sheds light on the collaborative nature of the creation of individual works and the interconnected histories of literature, politics, religion, science, and economics.

Ambitious in its scope, Making Her Mark is a bold corrective to the historical assumption that female artists of the past were rare and that their work was unremarkable. The result is a dynamic introduction to scores of women artists whose names are entirely new and a long-overdue reassessment of the art, culture, and history of early modern Europe.

Published by Goose Lane Editions with Art Gallery of Ontario and Baltimore Museum of Art
Non-Fiction  /  Art & Architecture
Published:  October 17, 2023
266 pages

Available format(s)

Format Hardcover  9781773103181  $60

Andaleeb Badiee Banta is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque art of Europe, with a focus on old master works on paper and has had over 20 years of experience working in art museums and galleries. She is the co-author of Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings and editor of The Enduring Legacy of Venetian Renaissance Art.

Alexa Greist is Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, at the AGO. She previously held research and curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. At the AGO, she has curated a wide variety of exhibitions, including Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400–1800; I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces; and Rise of the Rock Poster and the Summer of Love.

Theresa Kutasz Christensen is a researcher and curator who focuses on the history of collecting, women’s roles in the historical art market, and the reuse and reimagination of antiquity in the early modern period.

Winner: Alcuin Society Book Design Awards Second Prize (Prose Illustrated)
Winner: IPPY Award Silver Medal (Fine Arts)
Winner: Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement (Research)
Winner: Society for the Study of Early Modern Women & Gender Collaborative Project Award
Honorable Mention, George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award