ARTEMISIA
Artemisia Gentileschi was a painter of passions...of rich colors and fraught moments...of women taking command of their own stories. She reversed the classical depictions of female characters in mythology, presenting them with agency, as the protagonists of their own narratives.
And she was the hero of her own story, too. Despite working in a male-dominated field at a time when women could not even legally buy painting supplies, Gentileschi created an independent life for herself as a stunning artist of unparalleled power and uncompromised vision. She achieved fame and fortune through her own work, as the one of the first women ever to support herself with her artwork.
She often diverged from classical depictions of women as delicate and submissive, carving out her own trail as a fierce proto-feminist thinker. She reinterpreted biblical and mythological scenes through a lens of female agency and empowerment, from the shockingly visceral Judith Slaying Holofernes to her unflinchingly frank depiction of sexual harassment and abuse in Susanna and the Elders.
These issues were deeply personal for her: Gentileschi was a survivor of repeated sexual assaults by her tutor. Though the Gentileschi's brought him to court and won, Artemisia endured torture by thumbscrews in the process of a brutal trial. Finding her reputation in Rome irreparably tarnished after the trial, she left, refusing to allow the abuse in her past to define her. Instead, she reinvented herself in Florence, becoming the first woman to join their prestigious academy of arts and going on to attract a robust international patronage.
This gorgeous graphic biography tells her story through the eyes of her daughter Prudentia, as she delves into the vivid, troubled, heroic life story of one of the greatest painters ever to lift a brush.
'Sure to charm lovers of art history, it’s also a standout graphic biography that does real justice to its subject.' — Publishers Weekly
'The book’s art is outstanding...Artemisia is the informative, compelling graphic biography of an inspiring artist.' — Peter Dabbene, Foreword Reviews
NATHALIE FERLUT was born in Sète, France on November 26th 1968 and currently resides in the Haute-Savoie region of France. She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Nîmes, prior to pursuing her studies at the Beaux-Arts school in Angoulême where she obtained a diploma in comics in 1993. After brief stints in various animation related jobs, she returned to her love of comics full time. She began by writing the science-fiction mini-series Ether Glister, illustrated by Yoann and the later by Thierry Leprévost, and then she illustrated the children’s comic, The History of Mrs. Moon, written by Jean-Luc Loyer. Ferlut also both wrote and illustrated many of her own personal works, including Le Bel Inconnu, an adaptation of a medieval novel (published in two volumes by Carabas in 2004 and 2005), Lettres d’Agathe (published by Delcourt), Ève sur la balançoire and Andersen (both published by Casterman).
TAMIA BAUDOUIN is a French illustrator and comics artist who lives and works in Japan. She began her art studies at the Emile Cohl school, and continued her education at the ESA Saint Luc in Brussels, Belgium. She is passionate about drawing, both in comics (mainstream and indie comics equally) as well as fashion illustration. Artemisia is her first published comics work, and was soon followed by her second comics collaboration with Nathalie Ferlut, Dans La Foret Des Lilas, also published by Delcourt. Her next book, written by Béatrice Bottet, is Charles Perrault's Tales, and will be published by Casterman.
