'Exhilarating and fascinating' KATY HESSEL 'Rich and detailed' CHLOË ASHBY 'Enlightening'
TABISH KHAN 'Sheds light on an uncharted area of art history' JENNY PERY 'An essential read'
EDWARD BROOKE-HITCHINGMeet the unexpected overlooked and forgotten models of art history.Who
was Picasso's 'Weeping Woman'?Why was Grace Jones covered in graffiti?How did Francis Bacon
meet the burglar who became his muse?The perception of the muse is that of a passive powerless
model at the mercy of an influential and older artist. But is this trope a romanticised myth?
Far from posing silently muses have brought emotional support intellectual energy
career-changing creativity and practical help to artists.Muse tells the true stories of the
incredible muses who have inspired art history's masterpieces. From Leonardo da Vinci's studio
to the covers of Vogue art historian critic and writer Ruth Millington uncovers the
remarkable role of muses in some of art history's most well-known and significant works.
Delving into the real-life relationships that models have held with the artists who
immortalised them it will expose the influential and active part they have played and
deconstruct reductive stereotypes reframing the muse as a momentous and empowered agent of art
history.
