★Baumgärtel, Bettina & Annette Wickham. Angelica Kauffman. Royal Academy of Arts. May 2024. 128p. ISBN 9781915815033. $30. FINE ARTS

This book by the co-curators of an exhibition of the same name at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, spotlights the career of one of the two founding women members of the Royal Academy. Angelica Kauffman’s membership was an important accomplishment, as women artists would not be elected as members to the Academy for another 200 years. Although born in Switzerland, Kauffman (1741–1807) was a multinational, cosmopolitan artist who also lived in Italy and painted portraits of European royalty. It was during her more than 10 years spent in London (1766–81) that she became recognized not just as a skillful portrait painter but as a history painter, which was unusual for a woman artist. While employing a wide range of subject matter, her history paintings depicted active rather than passive heroines, and in some of her works, the lines between allegorical interpretations of subjects and self-portraiture were blurred. A well-trained and well-read artist, Kauffman studied the Italian Renaissance and Baroque masters and was informed by the color theories and aesthetics of Goethe’s circle, as this catalogue demonstrates. VERDICT With beautiful color plates, readable text, and a chronology of the artist’s life, this vis an excellent introduction to a remarkable and trailblazing but little-discussed woman painter.—Sandra Rothenberg

★Bolton, Andrew (text) & Nick Knight & Anna-Marie Kellen (photos). Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jun. 2024. 494p. ISBN 9781588397775. $75. DEC ARTS

The title of this catalogue, accompanying an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, refers to articles of clothing in the collection that must be exhibited laid flat. To display them otherwise would harm the stability of the garments, whose fibers have become fragile and damaged over time. These objects in turn relate to the exhibition’s overarching theme of nature, which, like fashion, is fleeting and ever-changing. Drawing upon examples of clothing from the Met’s collection, sections are divided into subjects such as “Earth” (clothing inspired by different types of flowers), “Air” (birds and insects in fashion), and “Water” (garments inspired by sea-related themes such as marine life, seashells, and mermaids). The close-up images focus on the tactile qualities of clothing details such as colors, patterns, embroidery, and beading. Costume Institute Curator in Charge Bolton and other curators, conservators, and scholars provide context for how the garments were worn and examine the sensory aspects of the objects through scientific analysis of features like the garments’ scents or the sound of their fabric when in motion. VERDICT Beautifully designed and clearly written, this book is for readers who want to gain new insights into the language of clothing.—Sandra Rothenberg

★Mestizaje: The Feminist Art of Kathy Sosa. Tinta: Trinity Univ. Sept. 2024. 248p. ISBN 9781595343154. $34.95. FINE ARTS

A foreword by Sandra Cisneros and five brief essays in both English and Spanish by Sosa and art critics, collectors, and historians provide valuable insight into Sosa’s paintings. Her work represents mestizaje, a fusion of the identities and cultural elements found at the southwestern border of the U.S. Sosa’s influences—Mexican folk art and culture, Matisse’s Fauve palette, and patterns and textiles—are clear, yet her close-up portraits of women featuring bold, saturated planes of color against flat, contrasting colors, and/or vibrant patterns are stunningly fresh. Many of the portraits incorporate Mexico’s popular tree-of-life ceramic sculptures—árboles de la vida—which seem to radiate from the figures or frame them like crowns. The trees, populated by birds and other creatures, figures, blossoms, flags, hearts, Día de los Muertos skeletons, and occasionally words, hint at the sitter’s biographical details and add a touch of whimsy; one essayist notes that some of the árboles surrounding the women’s heads evoke Latin American magical realist literature. More than 178 pages of quality reproductions, many full-page, of works in various media (oil on canvas, paper, collage, installations) illustrate this well-designed book and provide a solid introduction to Sosa’s oeuvre. VERDICT A veritable feast for the eye that elucidates the comingling of contemporary and historical cultural influences in Sosa’s work. Especially recommended for libraries in border states.—Daryl Grabarek

Padley, Gemma. The Women Who Changed Photography: And How To Master Their Techniques. Laurence King. Aug. 2024. 216p. ISBN 9781399617277. pap. $24.99. PHOTOG

This eclectically arranged volume from Padley (Into the Wild: The Story of the World’s Greatest Wildlife Photography) features 50 women photographers from around the world—some famous (Sally Mann, Cindy Sherman, Susan Meiselas) and others lesser-known (Consuelo Kanaga, Jessie Tarbox Beals, Paz Errázuriz). Padley’s goal is to make the history of photography more representative and inclusive; she achieves this by featuring photographers from a broad cross-section of eras, from the 1850s to the present, and genres that include fine art, documentary, and photojournalism. Each artist is introduced with a short biography, a tip on their techniques, a portrait of the artist, and one image representing their body of work. Padley also gives each of the photographers an evocative moniker, like “the Dreamer” (Vivian Sassen), “the Freedom Fighter” (Shirin Neshat), and “the Researcher” (Laia Abril). The book features a dynamic design, showcasing vibrant pages and striking typography. Padley’s tips for borrowing from each photographer’s style can sometimes be superficial or too brief: the tip inspired by Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi’ is “Make bokeh the subject of your image”; for British photographer Nadine Ijewere, it’s “Shoot people upwards from a low angle.” VERDICT A well-designed, entry-level historical look at women photographers.—Shauna Frischkorn