Skirting the Issue: Stories of Indiana's Historical Women Artists

According to the ethos of the late 1800s and early 1900s, a woman's destiny was to be a wife, mother, and guardian of the virtues of hearth and home. Some women, despite cultural expectations, chose to explore their creativity and seek training in art. Often, at considerable social cost, these women exchanged washboards, ovens, and mending baskets for the challenges of a piece of canvas or block of stone. In Skirting the Issue, authors Judith Vale Newton and Carol Ann Weiss include a biographical dictionary detailing the lives of 100 of the state's historical women artists, and single out nearly 40 artists for further examination in detailed essays. They describe the challenges, the sacrifices, and the varying degrees of success they met.