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Katy Hessel

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The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsKatherine Rundell – World Book Day Special!I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the author, academic, screenwriter, creator of fantastical worlds and nocturnal roof-climber, Katherine Rundell. An award-winning non-fiction author for adults and fiction writer for children – whose books have sold over 4million copies worldwide, Rundell has penned works that span from the Impossible Creatures series – set in magical, endangered Archipelago – to Rooftoppers, about a young girl called Sophie who climbs the roofs of Paris in search of her mother, which is, one of my favourites. Because another of Rundell’s great works is Why You Should Read Children’s Books Ev...
2026-03-0403 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBonus: Katy Hessel & Es DevlinI am so excited to bring you this conversation with the extraordinary Es Devlin, who joined me at Liberty last week to celebrate the release of How to Live an Artful Life. Es Devlin is an artist and stage designer renowned all over the world for her large-scale performative sculptures and environments – from theatre and opera design for the National Gallery and Royal Opera House, to kinetic stage sculptures for musicians like Beyoncé, U2 and Lady Gaga. She has also created luminous installations at the V&A, Serpentine Galleries, Somerset House, and more. Whether designing for Beyoncé, the opera, or crea...
2025-11-2858 minTalk Art
Talk ArtKaty HesselWe meet Katy Hessel to discuss her incredible new book How To Live An Artful Life. The year ahead is a gift that has been given to you. What might you do with it?Dive into the year with the wisdom of artists. Gathered from interviews, personal conversations, books and talks, How to Live an Artful Life moves through the months of the year offering you thoughts, reflections and encouragements from artists such as Marina Abramovic, Nan Goldin, Lubaina Himid, Louise Bourgeois and many more.With a thought for every day of the ye...
2025-10-3158 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsTania BrugueraI am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA podcast is one of the most influential artists working in the world right now, TANIA BRUGUERA! Hailed for her installation and participatory performance works that blur the boundaries between art and reality, Bruguera has dedicated her life to making work that explores freedom of expression, immigration, totalitarianism, and human rights. She has brought attention to the strict control of Cuban authorities by confronting visitors at Tate Modern with performer police officers on horseback, to setting up an open debate on an official-looking stage at the Havana Biennale to...
2025-10-0236 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCatherine Morris on Judith ScottTHIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Catherine Morris of the Brooklyn Museum, on the great artist JUDITH SCOTT – launching on what would have been Scott's 81st birthday!! Scott (1943–2005) was an American artist hailed for her fibre-based sculptures that merge wheels, trolleys, locks and chairs with bundles of threads, and whose brilliantly inventive methods and obsessively spun sculptures cocoon found objects. They also served as a form of communication – which is particularly extraordinary for someone who couldn’t hear or speak verbally. A twin – her sister Joyce was born without disabilities – Scott was deaf and had Down syndrome, and through...
2024-05-0136 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBarbara KrugerTHIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, @katy.hessel interviews is one of the world's most influential artists: Barbara Kruger. Hailed for her distinctive poster-style language, Kruger merges text and image to bring attention to urgent political concerns. Bold, loud and readily available, her tabloid-esque works confront everyday issues. And, evocative of advertising, have the ability to bring meaning to often meaningless signage.  Born in Newark, NJ, and educated at Syracuse then Parsons, where she was taught by the late great Diane Arbus, Kruger began as an art director for Condé Nast, where she shaped her visual language. As she has sa...
2024-01-3145 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsThe Story of Art Without Men (Surrealism -- Audiobook!)In this episode, of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel reads 30 MINS of her chapter on SURREALISM from her book – and audiobook! – The Story of Art Without Men. The Story of Art Without Men is published by Penguin (UK), WW Norton (US). AUDIO BOOK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Story-of-Art-Without-Men-Audiobook/B09P1RK3GV?utm_source=Authorpost BOOK: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-story-of-art-without-men-katy-hessel/1141471389 Taking its name from Gombrich’s Story of Art (now in its sixteenth edition, which includes just one woman!), this book aims to retell art history with PIONEERI...
2023-06-2827 minStream Top-Rated Audiobooks in High Quality
Stream Top-Rated Audiobooks in High QualityAudiobook: The Story of Art Without Men by Katy HesselPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/29419 to listen full audiobooks. Publisher's Summary: How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Guided by Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of @thegreatwomenartists, discover the glittering paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century United States, and the artist who really invented the "readymade." Explore the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of postwar artists in Latin America, and the women defining art in the 2020...
2023-05-0310h 45Journey Through The Game-Changing Full Audiobook Now, Curious Minds!
Journey Through The Game-Changing Full Audiobook Now, Curious Minds!The Story of Art Without Men by Katy HesselPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/29419to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Story of Art Without Men Author: Katy Hessel Narrator: Katy Hessel Format: mp3 Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins Release date: 05-02-23 Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 53 ratings Genres: Women Publisher's Summary: How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Guided by Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of @thegreatwomenartists, discover the glittering paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century United States...
2023-05-0210h 45
#diepodcastin liest: Isabel Rohner & Regula Staempfli über Virginia Woolf, Kerstin Ehmer, Melanie Raabe, Luise F. Pusch, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland, Nele Neuhaus, Andrea Wulf, Katy Hessel.#diepodcastin liest: Isabel Rohner & Regula Staempfli über Virginia Woolf, Kerstin Ehmer, Melanie Raabe, Luise F. Pusch, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland, Nele Neuhaus, Andrea Wulf, Katy Hessel. “Bücher sind Spiegel der Seele” (Virginia Woolf) Regula Stämpfli und Isabel Rohner sprechen endlich mal wieder über Bücher – und haben so einiges mitgebracht: Zur Info vorab: 80!!! Prozent der Sachbücher, die im Feuilleton besprochen werden, STAMMEN VON MÄNNERN ÜBER MÄNNER. laStaempfli erwähnt die Sachbuch-Bestseller der ersten Woche Februar: Männer schreiben Weltgeschichten und über alles, Frauen dürfen nur zu Frauenthemen schreiben – bald wohl nicht mal das mehr, da Frauen ja ab...
2023-02-1100 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsThe Story of Art Without Men (Audiobook Taster!)In this very special BONUS EPISODE of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel reads the first 30 MINS of her upcoming book (and audiobook!), The Story of Art Without Men! The Story of Art Without Men is published by Penguin and out on the 8 SEPTEMBER!! AUDIO BOOK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Story-of-Art-Without-Men-Audiobook/B09P1RK3GV?utm_source=Authorpost BOOK: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 Taking its name from Gombrich’s Story of Art (now in its sixteenth edition, which includes just one woman!), this book aims to retell art history with PIONEERING non-male artists who sp...
2022-08-3134 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMarina AbramovićIn this very special BONUS EPISODE of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most renowned artists alive today, Marina Abramović. *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 **This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.com – use the code "The Artist is Present" at checkout for 15% off!** The “grandmother” of Performance Art, Marina Abramovic has been instrumental in pioneering the genre as a visual art form for the last five decades – a genre defined by risk taking; being pre...
2022-07-2552 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCaroline Bourgeois on Marlene DumasIn episode 88, and the SEASON FINALE of Season 7 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed curator, Caroline Bourgeois on MARLENE DUMAS! *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 **This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.com | use the code TGWA20 at checkout for 20% off!•• A painter of the face, the figure and the human psyche and form, Marlene Dumas is one of the most influential painters alive today. Collecting raw emotion and translating it visually onto the canva...
2022-05-1841 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAntonia ShoweringIn episode 87 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the very brilliant young painter, ANTONIA SHOWERING!!! *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 Acclaimed for her richly layered paintings of family, friends, lovers and more that occupy spaces between reality and surreality, memory and imagination, Antonia Showering paints her subjects full of conviction and full of emotion. Layered with narratives of, in her words, ‘stacked recollections’, her paintings can appear at once haunting and ethereal, ghoulish yet protective, and although they are personal to h...
2022-05-1146 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsSusan Weininger on Gertrude AbercrombieIn episode 86 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed scholar Susan Weininger on the surrealist sensation, GERTRUDE ABERCROMBIE!!! Gertrude Abercrombie (1909–1977) was a formative contributor to mid-century American painting. Based in Chicago, Abercrombie was a surrealist painter and self-dubbed ‘queen of bohemia'. Working independently from the Surrealist group in Europe, Abercrombie spent most of her life immersed in the Chicago jazz scene. With a penchant for cats, crescent and full moons, sinister desert-like landscapes that feature as paintings in bleak, cold interiors, stairs that lead to nowhere or a series of rhythmically coloured doors, Abercrombie forged a uniq...
2022-05-0444 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsPatricia Albers on Tina ModottiIn episode 85 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed writer Patricia Albers on TINA MODOTTI! Tina Modotti (1896–1942) was a trailblazer. Born in Italy, she found herself at the centre of Hollywood in the 1920s, the post-Revolution era of Mexico, in the midst of Communism with the Muralists, the latter of which she captured through raw images, using her camera - her tool - to engage with political and social issues. Nothing short of a revolutionary, Modotti documented the spirit of era. Her own life was never far from drama. Raised in Italy, in1913 she migrated to th...
2022-04-2751 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMarina Warner on Kiki Smith and Helen ChadwickIn episode 84 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the historian, mythographer, critic and novelist MARINA WARNER on Kiki Smith and Helen Chadwick!!! A writer of fiction and cultural history, with a special focus on myths and fairy tales and the role of women, Marina Warner is one of the leading art writers, and in the past few years published an extensive collection of essays in Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art and Artists. This incredible book, exploring discussions on myths, transformation, and alchemy, includes texts on the two artists we will discuss today: Kiki Smith and the l...
2022-04-2039 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBarbara Bloemink on Florine StettheimerIn episode 83 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed scholar, Barbara Bloemink, on the Jazz Age visionary, FLORINE STETTHEIMER!! *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9781529151145 A feminist, multi-media artist, Jazz-Age saloniste, poet and designer who captured the vibrancy and momentum of New York City’s growth between the World Wars, Stettheimer worked across words, painting, furniture and even costume design. To me was a revelation – and just as Georgia O'Keeffe so aptly observed in her friend: "Fantasy and reality all mixe...
2022-04-1345 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMagdalene OdundoIn episode 82 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most renowned living artists working in ceramics, Magdalene Odundo. *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-without-Men/dp/1529151147/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647348710&sr=8-1 [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Born in Kenya, and now living and working in the UK, where we are recording today, Odundo produces ceramic objects filled with beauty and gracefulness...
2022-04-0644 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJeffreen M. Hayes on Augusta SavageIn episode 81 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Jeffreen M. Hayes on the Harlem Renaissance pioneer, Augusta Savage!! *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-without-Men/dp/1529151147/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647348710&sr=8-1 [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Overcoming poverty, racism, and sexual discrimination, Savage is one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century and is famed for her emotionally tender and st...
2022-03-3044 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsSheila HicksIn episode 80 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the legendary SHEILA HICKS! *BOOK NEWS!* I have written a book! Order The Story of Art without Men here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-without-Men/dp/1529151147/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647348710&sr=8-1 [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Working across textiles, fibre, colour and form, Sheila Hicks’s six-decade-and-counting-career has seen her work across multiple mediums, processes and disciplines. From her cascades of colour that pour out of museum ceilings to he...
2022-03-2333 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAlexandra Munroe on Yoko OnoWELCOME BACK TO SEASON 7 of the GWA Podcast! I have some exciting news... I have written a book! The Story of Art without Men will be published by Penguin on 8 September 2022, and is available to pre-order now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-without-Men/dp/1529151147/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647348710&sr=8-1  Taking its name from Gombrich’s Story of Art (which includes just one woman!!), this book aims to retell art history with PIONEERING non-male artists who spearheaded movements and redefined the canon. Beginning in the 1500s and ending with those defining the 2020s, this ~FULLY illustrated 500+ page~ book...
2022-03-1648 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsDeborah Levy on Francesca Woodman, Lee Miller, Paula Rego, Leonora CarringtonIn episode 78 – and SEASON FINALE – of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the very brilliant writer, DEBORAH LEVY on photographers Francesca Woodman and surrealist Lee Miller, and painters Paula Rego and surrealist Leonora Carrington!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] The author of seven novels, Levy is one of the leading writers of our time having been shortlisted twice each for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Man Booker Prize. She has also written for The Royal Shakespeare Company and her pioneering theatre writing is c...
2021-12-1547 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBisa ButlerIn episode 77 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the fantastic artist, BISA BUTLER!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] One of the leading artists working today, Butler uses the medium of textile for her vivid and vibrant portraits of subjects that weave personal and historical narratives of Black life. From integrating members of her own family derived from old photographs to immortalising celebrated figures from Chadwick Boseman to Frederick Douglass, or those unknown from depression-era photographs, Butler’s oeuvre aims to, in he...
2021-11-1758 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsWilliam J Simmons on Cindy ShermanIn episode 76 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews William J Simmons on the legendary CINDY SHERMAN!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the “Pictures Generation”, Cindy Sherman, one of the greatest living artists, once said, “through a photograph you can make people believe anything". Transforming herself into unsettlingly convincing identities evocative of Hitchcock films, horror movies, clowns, housewives, supermodels, or valley girls, Sherman’s works so brilliantly hold a mirror up to our complica...
2021-11-1044 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsKudzanai-Violet HwamiIn episode 75 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most exciting young painters working today, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Born in Zimbabwe and raised between there, South Africa, and the UK, Hwami is fast becoming one of the leading artists of her generation. Having received her BA from Wimbledon College of Arts, where she was shortlisted for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, among many other prizes; this year, Hwami completed an MFA at the Ruskin School of...
2021-11-0339 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsFlavia Frigeri on MarisolIn episode 74 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed art historian, Flavia Frigeri on 60s Pop sensation, MARISOL!!!!!!  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Venezuelan-American artistMaria Sol Escobar (who went by the name of ‘Marisol’) (1930–2016) was hailed for her wooden sculptures with their deadpan expressions and awkward, playful stances. Merging hand-carved woodenfigures with real life objects, (forks, hats, boots, bags), she mocked right-wing America, commented on female identity, challenging Western ideals. Raised between Paris, Caracas, and Los Angeles, Marisol arrived in New Yor...
2021-10-2744 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsTacita DeanIn episode 72 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most trailblazing artists alive today, Tacita Dean!!!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Working across drawings, photographs to installations and found objects, Tacita Dean is perhaps best known for her incredibly pioneering and staggeringly beautiful work in film. Interested in capturing the “truth of the moment, the film as a medium, and the sensibilities of the individual”, it is particularly her eloquent 16 and 35mm analogue films that are carried by a sens...
2021-10-1338 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCharlie Porter on Louise Bourgeois, Anne Truitt, Sarah Lucas, Martine SymsIn episode 71 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed writer, fashion critic, and art curator, Charlie Porter on Louise Bourgeois, Anne Truitt, Sarah Lucas and Martine Syms !!!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] In this episode, which will work slightly differently from normal, we will focus on four artists mentioned in Charlie's latest book, one of my favourite books of this year: What Artists Wear!!! An incredibly fascinating book that chronicles the lives and careers of artists through their clothes and...
2021-10-0649 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsNick Willing on Paula RegoIn episode 70 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the SON, Nick Willing, of one of the greatest living artists, his mother, PAULA REGO !!!!!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Wow is this one of the most joyous, brilliant, electric and INSIGHTFUL episodes. Nick speaks so beautifully on his mother, her life, her art, her commitment to painting, her greatness at telling stories and twisting them on its head. A few years ago, Nick, a director and writer, made an incredible documentary, "Secrets and...
2021-09-2957 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLeilah BabiryeIn episode 68 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the great sculptor, Leilah Babirye !!!!!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Working across painting, sculpture, to assemblage; on paper, ceramics, wood and more; using carving, burnishing, weaving and wielding, since graduating around ten years ago, Babirye has become one of the most acclaimed and forward thinking sculptors of this generation. Hailed for her experimental processes, Babirye is also renowned for her vital addressing of narratives surrounding identity, sexuality, and human rights, and her frequent us...
2021-09-2241 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsPhyllida BarlowIn episode 68 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the great sculptor, PHYLLIDA BARLOW !!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Simultaneously colossal and intimate, precarious and triumphant, stoic and ephemeral, Phyllida Barlow’s all-engulfing sculptures, made from cement, cardboard, fabric, to chicken wire, don’t just force a redressing of sculpture in art history, but they question the limitless potentials of the versatile medium. Taking influence from her surroundings, and in turn influencing and challenging ours, they distort all sense of perspective, challenge scul...
2021-09-1547 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsRaquel Cecilia Mendieta on Ana MendietaIn episode 67 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the filmmaker Raquel Cecilia Mendieta on her aunt, one of the greatest artists ever to live: Ana Mendieta.  The day of this episode's release: 8 September 2021, is the 36th anniversary of Ana's death, who died aged 36 in 1985.  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] "I use the earth as a canvas and my soul as an instrument." A pioneer of Performance Art who used the body as her primary tool, Mendieta’s career was radically experimental. Born in...
2021-09-0851 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLisa YuskavageIn episode 66 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed painter, LISA YUSKAVAGE! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Commanding and vulnerable, inviting and resisting, psychologically intense, addressing shame and provocations, Lisa Yuskavage began her paintings of doll-like, pre-pubescent, semi-naked women in the early 1990s. Often emerging from a technicolored, acid-like pool of saturated pinks, greens, reds, or yellows, Yuskavage combines art historical colouring techniques for her images that are as much about an exploration of light and colour, as they are...
2021-09-0150 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsEileen Myles on Joan MitchellWELCOME BACK TO SEASON 6 OF THE GWA PODCAST! In episode 65 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed poet EILEEN MYLES on the legendary painter, JOAN MITCHELL! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] A resident of New York City since 1974, Eileen Myles has been one of the greatest living poets of the last few decades. Their recent poem Eight Poems and Joan Mitchell’s City Landscape, is featured in the most extensive book of Joan Mitchell to date (published by Yale University Pre...
2021-08-2546 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAli Smith on Barbara Hepworth, Pauline Boty, Tacita Dean, and Lorenza MazzettiIn episode 64 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed writer ALI SMITH (!!!!) on Pauline Boty, Barbara Hepworth, Tacita Dean and Lorenza Mazzetti !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] The FINAL episode of Season 5 of the GWA Podcast, we speak to one of the GREATEST authors and writers in the world, Ali Smith, about the artists who act as the 'spine' for her recently-completed series of four stand-alone novels, grouped as the Seasonal Quartet: Pauline Boty in Autumn, Barbara Hepworth in Winter, T...
2021-05-121h 05The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsEmma Ridgway on Ruth AsawaIn episode 63 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed curator Emma Ridgway of Modern Art Oxford on the majorly influential, RUTH ASAWA (where she is set to have an exhibition in 2022!!!).  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Artist, educator, trailblazer and sculptor, Ruth Asawa is up there with the greatest and most influential artists of the entire 20th century, Best known for her looped-wire sculptures that expand form, defy structure, and blurring all illusions between hard and soft, tall and small, st...
2021-05-051h 02The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCindy Kang on Berthe MorisotIn episode 62 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed curator CINDY KANG of the Barnes Foundation on the Impressionist giant, BERTHE MORISOT! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW is this an incredible insight into Morisot, who was the FIRST woman to ever exhibit with the Impressionists in 1874, and THE woman who paved the way for the Modern Parisian woman.  Praised for her quick, feathery, brushstrokes, infused with light and vivid colouring, Morisot's subjects ranged from family life to the fa...
2021-04-2849 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsStephanie Rosenthal on Yayoi KusamaIn episode 61 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed curator and Director of Berlin's Gropius Bau, Dr Stephanie Rosenthal on the legendary artist, YAYOI KUSAMA!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW is this an incredible insight to the iconic Japanese artist, who works across film to painting, performance, sculpture to installation, drawing and collage, to her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms, who is about to be the subject of a MAJOR exhibition at Gropius Bau (curated by Stephanie!!). Info here: ht...
2021-04-2149 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJulie MehretuIn episode 60 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviewsone of the greatest artists of our time, the inimitable JULIE MEHRETU !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Revolutionising abstract painting for the twenty-first century, filled with frenzied vortexes and orderly and disorderly lines, Mehretu is acclaimed for her all-encompassing, large-scale, gestural paintings built up through layers of acrylic paint, and overlaid with frenetic mark-making. Referencing art history – from the Old Masters, dynamism of the Italian Futurists to the enveloping scale of Abstract Expressionism – and past c...
2021-04-1453 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJennifer Higgie on Suzanne ValadonIn episode 59 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews acclaimed writer JENNIFER HIGGIE on the great Parisian painter, Suzanne Valadon (1863–1938) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW, is this one of the greatest stories in art history of the acrobat-turned-artist-model-turned-artist Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine), who grew up in Montmartre, the bohemian quarter of Paris; supported herself from the age of ten; but whose life took a turn after a fall from an acrobat in her early teens!  Modelling for the likes of Renoir to...
2021-04-0744 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsDiane Radycki on Paula Modersohn BeckerIn episode 58 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed art historian, Diane Radycki, on the groundbreaking German Modernist PAULA MODERSOHN BECKER!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW, is this one of the most incredible stories in art history. A precursor to German Expressionism, Modersohn Becker was not only one of the first German artists to bring the intense and dazzling colours and brushstrokes to her home country, but the first woman artist in HISTORY to paint herself nude!!  Born in...
2021-03-3145 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsKatarina Jerinic on Francesca WoodmanIn episode 57 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the esteemed curator of the Woodman Foundation, Katarina Jerinic on the GROUNDBREAKING photographer, Francesca Woodman!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW is this an incredible insight to the American photographer, who in her short career produced an extraordinary body of work (over 800 photographs) acclaimed for its unique style and range of innovative techniques. Born in Colorado in 1958, at the age of thirteen Francesca Woodman took her first self-portrait. From then, up until h...
2021-03-2447 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsThe Gee's Bend Quiltmakers!In episode 56 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Loretta Pettway Bennett and Mary Margaret Pettway of the GEE'S BEND QUILTMAKERS! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Located in a small, remote and rural community in Alabama, USA, officially known as Boykin, which is surrounded on three sides by river and has a population of around 700, the women of Gee’s Bend have been creating hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present day. Electric, off-beat, full of fla...
2021-03-1741 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsSue Tate on Pauline BotyIn episode 55 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Dr Sue Tate on the incredible British Pop Artist, PAULINE BOTY !!!!!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] One of the most important artists to change the face of British Pop Art (as well as being an Actress, TV star, radio commentator, a blonde who read Proust) Boty EPITOMISED the possibilities of the modern Pop woman. Known for capturing the glamour and vivacity of the 1960s, including those of music stars to film icons, think M...
2021-03-1044 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsHowardena PindellIn episode 54 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the LEGENDARY artist Howardena Pindell !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Working across a variety of mediums, from painting to film, and who has employed a range of unconventional materials, such as glitter to talcum powder; since the late 1960s, Howardena Pindell has examined a wide range of subject matter, from the personal, historical, political and social for her highly important and activistic like work that deals with racism, feminism, violence and exploitation. Born i...
2021-03-0346 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsElizabeth Smith on Helen FrankenthalerWELCOME BACK TO SEASON 5 of the GWA PODCAST! In episode 53 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the renowned curator and executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Elizabeth Smith, on the trailblazing and legendary HELEN FRANKENTHALER (1928–2011) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] With a career spanning six decades, Helen Frankenthaler has long been recognized as one of the great American artists of the twentieth century. A member of the second generation of postwar American abstract painters, she is widely credited with playing a...
2021-02-2448 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsRebecca VanDiver on Lois Mailou JonesIn episode 52 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the renowned art historian Rebecca K. VanDiver on the trailblazing and legendary LOIS MAILOU JONES (1905–1998) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Born in Boston, had her first exhibition aged 17, and found herself in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, Lois Mailou Jones had an EXTENSIVE artistic career that spanned almost an entire century, and an oeuvre that ranged from traditional portraits, Haitian landscapes, to African-themed abstraction. Born to accomplished, upper-middle-class, professional paren...
2020-12-0950 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsPolly NorIn episode 51 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the incredible London-based illustrator and artist, POLLY NOR! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Best known for her dark and satirical drawings of women and their demons, Polly’s work interweaves themes of identity, sexuality, and emotional turmoil in her bold, bright, hilarious and disturbing semi-surrealist dream-like work. Looking at sexuality and the female experience in the internet age, Polly’s incredibly imaginative drawings tell the story of often house-bound women and their demons in the...
2020-12-0246 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsGriselda Pollock on Alina SzapocznikowIn episode 50 (!!!) of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the legendary, trailblazing, feminist art history ICON, GRISELDA POLLOCK on the pioneering Polish Jewish artist, Alina Szapocznikow.  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Author, editor, curator, and Professor, Griselda Pollock's 43-year-plus career as an art historian is nothing short of LEGENDARY. Having co-authored (with Rozsika Parker), “Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology”, written 26 books, and edited many more, Pollock's indefatigable career has seen her spend decades developing an international, queer, postcolonial, feminist analysis of art’s...
2020-11-2555 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMona ChalabiIn episode 49 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the incredible data journalist and artist, MONA CHALABI!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Currently the Data editor of the Guardian US, a position she has held for the past seven years, the London-born but now New York-based Chalabi is known for her outstanding data-informed visualisations and drawings that range from addressing stats around gender imbalances in museums, to hate crimes and immigration issues to what time of day Americans might eat pizza. Bold...
2020-11-1849 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLetizia Treves on Artemisia GentileschiIn episode 48 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the highly esteemed National Gallery curator, Letizia Treves, on the REVOLUTIONARY Baroque artist, Artemisia Gentileschi !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW, it was on the eve of lockdown that Letizia (the show's curator) took me for a tour of "Artemisia" at the National Gallery, where we recorded this very special episode – so please come and join us!  An ICON of art history. A trailblazer. A revolutionary. And a great. Born on the cusp...
2020-11-1152 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAlyce Mahon on Leonor FiniIn episode 47 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the highly esteemed, Cambridge University Art History professor and Surrealist EXPERT, Alyce Mahon on the magical LEONOR FINI (1907–1996) !!!!  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] The MATRIARCH of 20th century painting, known for her highly original works of supernatural portraits that empowered her female protagonists in the forms of sphinxes, Fini switched up gender roles like no other and was one of the most ground-breaking painters of the twentieth century. Born in Buenos Aires of mix...
2020-11-0454 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsGuerrilla GirlsTo mark the FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of @thegreatwomenartists Instagram, in this very special episode, Katy Hessel interviews the trailblazing, fearless, ICONS Kathë Kollwitz and Frida Kahlo of the GUERRILLA GIRLS !!!!!  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] I don’t think I have ever been so excited! The anonymous feminist activist artist collective founded in 1985, who go by the guises of deceased female artists, the Guerrilla Girls are known to wear masks in public and use facts, humour, and outrageous and bold visuals to expose gender and e...
2020-10-2848 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCecily BrownIn episode 45 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the greatest painters to ever live, the inimitable CECILY BROWN!!!!!   [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] I am SO EXCITED to release this episode which chronicles the UK-born, US-based Brown's incredible painterly career from the 1990s–present day! With her work steeped in art history, referencing the likes of Rubens, to Goya to Bacon and de Kooning, Cecily Brown is known for her all-encompassing, small-to-colossal scale paintings that portray the medium in a co...
2020-10-2152 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsWanda M Corn on Georgia O'KeeffeIn episode 44 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the highly esteemed, pioneering art historian, Wanda M Corn on the legendary painter, GEORGIA O'KEEFFE (1887–1986) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] I am SO EXCITED to release this episode with Wanda Corn who not only **KNEW** Georgia O'Keeffe in the 1980s, but who is the curator of the staggeringly brilliant and HIGHLY successful exhibition, Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern at New York’s The Brooklyn Museum in 2017, which toured around the US. This was an exhi...
2020-10-1454 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsToyin Ojih OdutolaIn episode 43 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most incredible artists working in the world right now, the brilliant TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA. [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Working exclusively in drawing materials including pen, pastel, charcoal, and chalk, the Nigerian-born and New York-based artist is known for her astoundingly-beautiful, electric-like and meticulously rendered figurative works. Based on imaginary characters who inhabit opulent interiors and verdant landscapes, Ojih Odutola’s work can be exclusively monochrome or drenched in dazzling co...
2020-10-0755 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsChloe WiseIn episode 42 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the sensational painter, CHLOE WISE!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Canada-born and now NYC-based, Chloe Wise captures the strange times we are living more poignantly – and sometimes disturbingly – more than any artist I know!!  Working in a range of materials, from beautifully-rendered painting, to sculpture, video and installation, Wise’s works are filled with portraits of her friends and acquaintances, food, and everyday objects that pay particular attention to our consumer-culture-obsessed and hyper-sanitised world...
2020-09-3050 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsTracey Bashkoff on Hilma af KlintWELCOME BACK TO SEASON 4!! In episode 41 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned, Guggenheim curator and Director of Collections, Tracey Bashkoff on the staggeringly PIONEERING... HILMA AF KLINT!!!  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW. What an INSIGHT into one of the world's greatest and innovative artists: who experimented with Abstraction BEFORE the likes of Kandinsky and Mondrian, but whose paintings (who no one knew she was making!) were not discovered until 20+ years after the artist's death in 1944.  Guided by a s...
2020-09-2356 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMelanie Herzog on Elizabeth CatlettIn episode 40 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned art historian, Dr Melanie Herzog on the TRAILBLAZING American artist, ELIZABETH CATLETT (1915–2012). [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW! This was such an insight into one of the MOST seminal artists (teacher, pioneer, and PERSON!) who lived throughout almost the entirety of the 20th century, and whose aim in her art was to tell stories, fight for justice, and make art accessible to ALL!!! "I have always wanted my art to ser...
2020-09-0250 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCornelia ParkerIn episode 39 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned British artist, CORNELIA PARKER !! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW! This was such an insight into one of Britain's foremost artists known for her inventive, poetic, and quietly provocative works in sculpture, photography, performance, prints, and large-scale, and often site-specific, installations. Working in a variety of mediums since the mid-1980s, Parker's art is about destruction, resurrection and reconfiguration. Demonstrating the importance of process, she frequently transforms objects by using see...
2020-08-2636 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLou Stoppard on Shirley BakerIn episode 38 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant London-based writer LOU STOPPARD on the ICONIC and TRAILBLAZING street photographer SHIRLEY BAKER (1932–2014) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW! This was such an insight into one of the greatest street photographers of the 20th century. A woman who captured 6+ decades of change in post-War Britain: from Manchester in the ‘50s and ‘60s, to the heights of Thatcherism in the ‘80s, and New Labour in the 2000s. A self-proclaimed “idler with a camera”...
2020-08-1941 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBridget R Cooks on Alma ThomasIn episode 37 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned art historian Bridget R Cooks on the SENSATIONAL and PIONEERING Abstract artist, ALMA THOMAS (1891–1978) !!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW. This is one of the most incredible and UPLIFTING life stories I have heard of an artist whose work I am completely in love with – partially for the reason that Alma Thomas did not become an artist until she was in her 70s!!! A schoolteacher from 1924–1960 (!), it wasn't until after retirem...
2020-08-1254 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLoie HollowellIn episode 36 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the sensational artist, LOIE HOLLOWELL!!!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW was it fascinating to hear all about the ideas behind Loie's MIND-BLOWING, electric-like paintings that abstract the body through fragments of geometric shapes. Always using a vibrant colour palette, her PULSATING and PSYCHEDELIC works explore themes around sexuality, birth, women's bodies, which we discuss in-depth! First appearing as highly textured two dimensional works, witness them in real life and her works e...
2020-08-0544 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsNatalie Lettner on Maria LassnigIn episode 35 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned art historian and biographer, Natalie Lettner, on the FASCINATING and BRILLIANT Austrian-born artist, MARIA LASSNIG (1919–2014) !!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW. This is one of the most interesting life stories I have ever heard of an artist whose work I am COMPLETELY blown away by. Known for her psychologically charged figurative paintings, Lassnig's work is based on the extreme observation of the physical presence of the body – what she termed ‘body aw...
2020-07-2953 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsSomaya CritchlowIn episode 34 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most exciting and brilliant young painters working in the world right now, the great SOMAYA CRITCHLOW!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] A graduate of Brighton University and The Royal Drawing School, Somaya is known for her powerful depictions of bold female characters and delicately rendered objects – that she creates on both a mid-size and minute scale! Challenging and subverting cultural expectations of race, gender, and power in the history of art...
2020-07-2239 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLubaina HimidIn episode 33 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most groundbreaking, important, and influential artists working in the world today, the Turner-Prize winning artist, LUBAINA HIMID!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] Known for working in painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, cut-outs, and installations, Himid paints onto a variety of surfaces from ceramic to wood which produce objects with performative potential intended to be encountered in a space.  A tireless champion of marginalised voices, Himid has dedicated her thirty-year-plus career to u...
2020-07-151h 18The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJulie CurtissIn episode 32 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the phenomenal, Brooklyn-based artist, JULIE CURTISS!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] One of the MOST exciting artists working today, Julie is known for her bold, graphic, highly stylised and Neo-Surrealist works of faceless and fragmented women, and food. Often swept up in an eerily dreamscape, her often cropped works allow us as viewers to interpret a world beyond what we are looking at.  Working in a myriad of mediums including painting, sculpture, and g...
2020-07-0844 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCassi NamodaIn episode 31 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most exciting artists in the world right now, the great CASSI NAMODA!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] WOW was it incredible to speak with the painter known for her vibrant and beautiful works that capture everyday scenes – from mundane moments to life-changing events of post-colonial Mozambique within an increasingly globalised world. Born in Maputo, and currently based in Long Island, NY, Cassi is a painter and performance artist who explores th...
2020-07-0139 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsBriony Fer on Eva HesseIn episode 30 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the incredible art historian and curator, Professor Briony Fer, on the legendary EVA HESSE!! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] One of the most GROUNDBREAKING artists the world has ever seen, Eva Hesse was known for her innovative sculptures made up of synthetic materials from fibreglass, plastic, to latex.  Working predominantly in NYC in the 60s, despite a short-lived career, Eva worked rigorously and prolifically, challenging every sculptural convention which came before her. Particularly dec...
2020-06-2447 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsHelene Love-Allotey, Chloe Austin, Emi EleodeIn episode 29 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews THREE brilliant guests: African Art specialist, Helene Love-Allotey, art historian and curator-in-training Chloe Austin, and creator of @arthistorytalks, Emi Eleode.  Last week, six exciting young names in art celebrating Black culture took over @thegreatwomenartists Instagram account. To honour this takeover, this episode, as well as last week's, feature interviews with all six women about their practice and work.  And WOW. Were these women were absolutely incredible to speak with. First up we have Helene Love-Allotey who speaks in depth about her love for the great British artist, Lubaina Himid, and he...
2020-06-171h 07The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsNengi Omuku, Alayo Akinkugbe, Michaela Yearwood-DanIn episode 28 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews THREE brilliant guests: Lagos-based artist, Nengi Omuku, founder of @ablackhistoryofart Alayo Akinkugbe, and the amazing London-based artist, Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Over the past six days some of the most exciting young names in art celebrating Black culture have been taking over @thegreatwomenartists Instagram account. To honour this takeover, this episode, and the next one will feature interviews with all six women about their practice and work.  And WOW. Were these women completely incredible to speak with. We first speak to Nengi Omuku, the Slade BA and MA graduate whose work explo...
2020-06-101h 12The Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsDeborah RobertsIn Episode 27 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the phenomenal artist, DEBORAH ROBERTS!!  [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] The MOST entertaining guest, the Austin-born and based Deborah is known for combining collage with mixed media in her figurative works that depict the complexity of black subjecthood, and explore themes of race, identity, and gender politics.  By using collage, she reflects the beauty, strength, and power but also challenges encountered by young black children, as they strive to build their identity, particularly as...
2020-05-2748 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsFlora YukhnovichIn Episode 26 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the highly-acclaimed, sensation of a painter, FLORA YUKHNOVICH! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW was it an honour to interview Flora at her studio (the week before lockdown!) and discuss in-depth her INCREDIBLE works that adopt the language of the Rococo, reimagining the DYNAMISM of works by 18th century artists such as Tiepolo to Fragonard! Fusing high and low cultures through a filter of contemporary Cultural references, including film, food, and music vid...
2020-05-2040 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsOlivia Laing on Chantal Joffe, Sarah Lucas and Ana MendietaIn Episode 25 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned writer and critic, OLIVIA LAING on Chantal Joffe, Sarah Lucas, and Ana Mendieta! [This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!] And WOW. Was it an honour to interview Olivia: one of the greatest writers working today and the author of some of my favourite books: To The River, The Trip to Echo Spring, Crudo, and The Lonely City, which explores artists’ loneliness in New York City – the most powerful book I have ever read...
2020-05-1350 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsPrudence FlintIn Episode 24 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the AMAZING artist PRUDENCE FLINT!! One of my FAVOURITE artists of 2020 – with her work particularly resonating with me at the time of lockdown – Prudence is known for her eerily quiet scenes of characters silently going about their daily lives. Swept up in her signature pastel-like palette, whilst it might at first appear as though her figures are performing seemingly mundane activities – lying on a bed to brushing their teeth – Prudence gives precedent to their actions by creating tense atmospheres in her slightly distorted and jarring environments. Painting both men and women...
2020-05-0640 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsHelen Molesworth on Alice NeelIn Episode 23 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the world's GREATEST writers and curators, Helen Molesworth on ALICE NEEL !!! The most exceptional portrait painter to ever life, and in my opinion, the most pioneering artist there ever was, Alice Neel was a visionary. Born as early as 1900 and based in NYC for her entire adulthood, Neel's life corresponded with the 20th century, which saw her live through political events, as well as a multitude of art movements and styles.   Painting her portraits in her signature thick blue and black outlines; scrutinising her sitter in every way...
2020-04-2958 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJo Applin on Louise BourgeoisIn Episode 22 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned feminist art historian, Dr Jo Applin, on the legendary, LOUISE BOURGEOIS !!! Born as early as 1911 and living for nearly ONE HUNDRED years, Louise Bourgeois was a visionary. One of the most important artists ever to exist, in this episode we deep dive into her extraordinary life and pioneering work, that marked a shift in art, forever.  Known for her large-scale sculptures and cell-like installations, as well as paintings, drawings, sculptures and more, Louise Bourgeois began her artistic practice in her native Paris. Originally associated with Surrealism due to h...
2020-04-2252 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsLaura Smith on Eileen AgarIn Episode 21 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant Whitechapel Gallery curator, Laura Smith on the acclaimed surrealist EILEEN AGAR! One of THE leading artists of the 20th century, Agar’s extensive seven-decade career spanned vibrant painting, collage, and found objects. It saw her create monumental four-metre wide canvases, to plaster heads, infused with feathers, diamonds, ribbons, and bows that defied all gender stereotypes. Born in Buenos Aires in 1899, Agar grew up in a strict, traditional household with a mother who wanted her to be married off. But Eileen had different thoughts. Running away to The Sl...
2020-03-0348 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsShirin NeshatIn Episode 20 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the INCREDIBLE, internationally-acclaimed artist, Shirin Neshat.  Born in 1957 in a small city in Iran, Neshat was 17 when she was sent to the United States to complete her education – first at a school in Southern California and then to Berkeley for her university education. However, due to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, she was prevented from returning to her country for close to 20 years, and although she studied art in college, it wasn’t until 1993 that she began to make art again.  Known for her work in photography, film and video that de...
2020-02-2543 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsChantal Joffe on Charlotte SalomonIn Episode 19 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most important painters in the world, CHANTAL JOFFE on the great artist CHARLOTTE SALOMON!   And WOW was it amazing to interview Chantal in her London studio on Charlotte Salomon, the Jewish-born German artist who created one of the most important and powerful artworks of the 20th century, "Life? or Theatre?", which is currently on view at the Jewish Museum here in London: https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/charlotte-salomon/ Created between the years of 1941–43 when the young Salomon was living in Nice having escaped Berlin, "Life? or Thea...
2020-02-1845 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsGenieve FiggisIn Episode 18 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the world-renowned Irish artist, GENIEVE FIGGIS!! And WOW was it amazing to interview Genieve, whose vibrant, loosely rendered, liquid-like works that reimagine classical scenes I have been SUCH a fan of since her inaugural London exhibition at Almine Rech back in 2015! Working in oil and acrylic and at small- to mid-scale, Genieve Figgis produces paintings rich in color, texture, and humor. Striking the balance between figuration, her marble-style and liquid-like paintings are reminiscent of the 18th century Rococo style.   Born in Dublin and now based in County Wicklow, Figgis w...
2020-02-1138 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJadé FadojutimiIn Episode 17 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most exciting young artists working in the world right now, JADÉ FADOJUTIMI !! And WOW was it amazing to record at Jadé's South London studio surrounded by her monumental works. She is SO brilliant and not only did we have so much fun recording this episode, but it is such a great insight to her work and also an honest experience being an artist. Working in painting and drawing, Jadé is known for her large-scale, vibrant and complex emotional landscapes that offer an insight into the art...
2020-02-0441 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsHans Ulrich Obrist on Faith Ringgold and Luchita HurtadoIn Episode 16 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant super curator and Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, HANS ULRICH OBRIST on the legendary artists, Faith Ringgold AND Luchita Hurtado!!! And WOW was it amazing to record at Serpentine, where last summer Hans Ulrich curated monumental shows of their work. But despite both artists approaching their ninth and tenth decades, it was Luchita's first solo exhibition EVER, and for Faith it was also her first ever in-depth European institutional show ever!! https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/faith-ringgold https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/luchita-hurtado-i-live-i-die-i-will-be-reborn In this episode Hans...
2020-01-2839 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJessie Burton on Frida KahloIn Episode 15 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant best-selling author, Jessie Burton, on the great FRIDA KAHLO !!!!!!! And WOW was it incredible to record at Jessie's beautiful home surrounded by everything Frida: from mugs, cushions, candles, posters, to doorstops, Jessie has even painted her writing out-house 'Frida-blue' (!). What a hero! I first found out about Jessie's fascination with the artist after reading a beautiful essay she wrote in 2017 for Harper's Bazaar after making the pilgrimage to Frida's house, Casa Azul, around the time of the V&A Exhibition. You can read a shorter version here: h...
2020-01-2153 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsEmma Lewis on Dora MaarWELCOME BACK to SEASON 2 of The GWA Podcast!! In Episode 14 (or Ep1, S2!)  of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant Tate Modern curator, Emma Lewis on DORA MAAR!!  And WOW was it incredible to record at Tate Modern where Emma has curated the HIGHLY critically acclaimed ~ and first ever UK retrospective ~ of the great French photographer and painter (on view until 15th March, don’t miss – https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar!!) Maar was one of the most celebrated Surrealist photographers who lived in Paris in the early half of the 20th century. She exh...
2020-01-1441 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsZoe Whitley on Betye SaarIn Episode 13 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most important and groundbreaking curators working today, Dr Zoe Whitley on BETYE SAAR!! And WOW was it incredible to record with Zoe at London's Hayward Gallery – where she is senior curator – to discuss the life and work of the now 93 year-old Betye, who featured in Zoe's 2017 Tate Modern (and now touring) exhibition, SOUL OF A NATION!  Betye Saar is one of the most important artists in contemporary art, and currently has solo exhibitions on right now at both MoMA and LACMA! Known for her political collages and ass...
2019-12-1742 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsCelia PaulIn Episode 12 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the foremost painters working in the world right now, CELIA PAUL!! And WOW was it incredible to record with Celia in her live-in studio – one of the most amazing places I have ever visited – which we discuss in great detail in the episode, as well as her extensive career.  Known for her intimate and expressive portraits of people and places close to her, as well as her statuesque and monumental self portraits, Celia is one of Britain's most celebrated artists who is currently the subject of an unmissabl...
2019-12-1048 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsMaggi HamblingIn Episode 11 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the legendary British painter and sculptor, MAGGI HAMBLING! And WOW was it fun (and definitely an experience!) to visit the very brilliant Maggi in her South London studio to speak about her extensive and incredible five decades-and-counting career. Known for her portraits of the likes of comedian Max Wall to chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, sublime depictions of seascapes, public sculptures that include a 4-metre high steel 'Scallop' on Aldeburgh Beach, Maggi is always one to give her viewer some sort of immediate reaction, whether that be physical, emotional, or at ti...
2019-12-0334 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsIwona Blazwick on Anna Maria MaiolinoIn Episode 10 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the legendary Director of Whitechapel Gallery IWONA BLAZWICK on the radical Brazilian artist ANNA MARIA MAIOLINO!! And WOW is it incredible to hear one of the most important curators in the WORLD today speaking so passionately about one of the greatest Latin American artists – who also has an unmissable exhibition on right now at Whitechapel Gallery.  With a career spanning five decades and counting, 77 year-old Maiolino works across a multitude of mediums including performance, photography, and sculpture. Born in Italy during WW2, Maiolino emigrated to Venezuela and then Brazil, where...
2019-11-2634 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsUnskilled WorkerIn Episode 09 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant London-based artist, Helen Downie, who goes under the guise of UNSKILLED WORKER!  A self-taught artist who first started painting aged 48 a mere six years ago, Unskilled Worker rose to prominence after posting her work online (instagram.com/unskilledworker), amassing nearly 300,000 Instagram followers, which led to designing collections for Gucci, and exhibiting at museums all over the world. Known for her intensely vibrant and poetic dreamlike canvases full of her very personal portrayals of people – from those in her imagination, to those who feature in her past and present...
2019-11-1939 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsFrances Morris on Agnes MartinIn Episode 08 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the Director of Tate Modern, FRANCES MORRIS (!), on the mammoth American abstract painter, AGNES MARTIN!! And WOW, is it incredible to hear such a groundbreaking curator speak SO passionately and eloquently about one of the greatest abstract painters to ever live. With a career that spanned five decades, Agnes Martin was known for her square canvases and meticulously rendered grids that translated into some of the most otherworldly pieces of art. Born in 1912, she grew up in rural Canada surrounded by nature before relocating to New York, where she wor...
2019-11-1243 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAïcha Mehrez on Lisa BriceIn Episode 07 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the amazing Tate Britain curator, Aïcha Mehrez, on one of the GREATEST painters working today, LISA BRICE!!!! And WOW. You think you know Lisa's phenomenally stunning work filled with women in moments of down-time in their private world? Think again. There are layers upon LAYERS of art historical references that she cannily interweaves that completely DISRUPTS every painting ever seen through the lens of the male gaze. Lisa is a genius and THE painter of our time.  Re-appropriating the likes of Millais' Ophelia, or Vallotton's unnamed woman, Lisa immor...
2019-11-0540 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJoanna Moorhead on Leonora CarringtonIn Episode 06 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews journalist Joanna Moorhead, the long lost cousin, biographer and world expert of one of the greatest surrealist painters ever to exist, LEONORA CARRINGTON!!! And WOW, will it shock you to find out that Joanna only found out about her long lost cousin a mere THIRTEEN years ago, by which point the great artist was 89. Determined to track her down, Joanna flew straight to Mexico to find her cousin – who was never allowed to be spoken about in her family since her dramatic exit in 1937... Born in 1917 in a large gothic...
2019-10-2955 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsAmi Bouhassane on Lee MillerIn Episode 05 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Ami Bouhassane on the life and work of her grandmother: the model turned surrealist, photographer, war correspondent and all-round 20th century artistic giant, LEE MILLER!! And WOW will this episode blow you away. Especially when you hear that Ami’s father, Antony Penrose, was unaware of his mother’s professional photographic life until after she passed away in 1977... Born in 1907, Lee Miller first entered the world of photography in New York after falling into the arms of Conde Nast on a Manhattan street. It didn't take long before she was...
2019-10-2251 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsTschabalala SelfIn Episode 04 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most highly regarded young artists working today, the Harlem-born painter, TSCHABALALA SELF!! A graduate of the Yale School of Art and a recent participant of the AMAZING Studio Museum Residency, the brilliant Tschabalala is known for her expressive, vibrant and dynamic works of human figure, that combines paint, printmaking, collage and sculpture. With her primary concern centred on the black female body, Self explores subjects around race, gender, and identity through powerful and bold images of women. In this episode we discuss Tschabalala's beginnings in Harlem...
2019-10-1537 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsJuno CalypsoIn Episode 03 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most exciting and brilliant photographers working today, JUNO CALYPSO!!! Known for her self portraits where she stages herself as a fictional character named ‘Joyce’ in the likes of Honeymoon Hotels in America, 70s style flats in Malta, or more recently in a kitsch underground bunker on the outskirts of Vegas, Juno’s work is always very distinctly pink and elaborate, with a lot of dark undertones. After graduating from London College of Communications in 2012, Juno has since gone on to win multiple awards for her work, includ...
2019-10-0844 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsEs DevlinIn Episode 02 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the sensational artist and stage designer, ES DEVLIN!! Known for creating some of the most memorable sets and stages the world has ever seen – including for the likes of Beyonce, Adele and Kanye West – Es is also world-renowned for her theatre and opera sets for The National Theatre to the Royal Opera House. Revolutionising the stage with her iconic and memorable sculptures, projections and cubes, Es also embarks on her own artworks including her Mirror Mazes, AI-generated poetry sculptures, and Memory Palaces, the latter of which is currently on view...
2019-10-0147 minThe Great Women Artists
The Great Women ArtistsEleanor Nairne on Lee KrasnerIn episode 01 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the exceptional curator, Eleanor Nairne, about the Abstract Expressionist sensation, LEE KRASNER!! Born in 1908 Brooklyn to a Jewish family, Krasner was known as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Nairne, who recently curated “Lee Krasner: Living Colour” at London's Barbican Centre, catapulted her into the spotlight after decades of the artist often being overshadowed by her former husband, Jackson Pollock. Whether you’re a die-hard Krasner fan (like me), or have never even heard of her at all, TUNE IN to here us discussing her incredible career...
2019-09-2443 minArt Matters
Art MattersWomen Artists in the Digital Age ft. Katy Hessel of @thegreatwomenartists - Episode 3On this episode of Art Matters, we speak with Katy Hessel, the woman behind the Instagram account, The Great Women Artists. We discuss how digital tools can help champion women artists, and how social platforms offer a voice to underrepresented communities. With this year marking 100 years since women began to gain voting rights in the UK, and International Women’s Day approaching on 8 March, it’s the perfect time to highlight and celebrate great, overlooked women artists. This episode's guest: Katy Hessel is the woman behind the Instagram-based blog @thegreatwomenartists. Having completed a BA in Art History at UCL in 2015, Katy...
2018-02-2000 min