Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
The female gaze
LYNNE WALSH applauds a show of paintings that demonstrates the forward strides made by women over four centuries 
Julia Margaret Cameron, Mountain Nymph, Sweet Liberty, 1865 [Wilson Centre]

Now You See Us: Women artists in Britain 1520-1920 
Tate Britain, London

 

THIS is women’s work: brilliantly creative, tenacious, incandescent with passion, empathetic and rebellious.

There’s a word that crops up, though, in titles and texts: unknown. A portrait shows an Unknown Lady; it’s unknown where some artists trained; some painters had their names misspelled over the years. It’s almost as if no-one were paying attention to their talents.

Levina Teerlinc, Portrait of a Lady holding a Monkey, 1560s. CREDIT: Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2024
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, c.1638-1640. CREDIT: Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2024
Emily Osborn, Nameless and friendless, 1857. CREDIT: Tate Gallery
Anna Airy, Shop for Machining 15-inch Shells: Singer Manufacturing Company, Clydebank, Glasgow, 1918. CREDIT: Imperial War Museum
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Tower of Babel, 1982
Culture / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
Daniel Lind-Ramos, Ensamblajes, Nottingham Contemporary
Exhibition review / 20 February 2025
20 February 2025
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement