The Female Body in Art - by Dempsey (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the Renaissance to the present day, this is the history of art told through the female form, with over 80 works of art.

A cultural mirror of the times, the female body has captivated both artists and audiences for centuries. But what can we learn from these pieces of art? What are they trying to tell us about the world we live in? And how has that changed over time?

Explore the luminous portraiture of Gustav Klimt, astonishing wartime photography from Lee Miller and the ground-breaking performance art of Marina Abramovic. Meet Leonor Fini's shepherdess, Barkley L. Hendricks's 'Madonna', Graciela Iturbide's 'Medusa', Toyin Ojih Odutola's adventuresses and Hayv Kahraman's 'army of fierce women'.

Discover the idealized female body as envisioned by Sandro Botticelli and the gender non-conforming portraits of Zanele Muholi and Yuki Kihara, as Amy Dempsey looks at how and why the female body has been depicted time and time again, and why its portrayal has often delivered important messages about - and to - the world.

With a foreword by writer and curator, Hettie Judah.

About the Author

Amy Dempsey is an art historian who studied at Hunter College in New York and received her doctorate from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Dempsey is the author of the international bestseller Styles, Schools & Movements: The Essential Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art (2002, 2010, updated and revised edition 2026), the groundbreaking Destination Art (2006, 2011), the first monographs on Almuth Tebbenhoff (2025) and Alfio Bonanno (2020), and three titles in Thames & Hudson's Art Essentials series: Modern Art (2018), Surrealism (2019) and Destination Art (2021).