Farewell to the Muse: Love, War and the Women of Surrealism

Chadwick (Women, Art, and Society) offers an informative and often moving account of the intersecting lives of women surrealists during the rise of Franco in Spain in the 1930s and the outbreak of WWII. Chadwick charts the extraordinary and accomplished lives these politically-engaged women led independently of their husbands and lovers. She profiles Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who famously became a cult figure in her own lifetime despite working in the shadow of her husband, Diego Rivera; she also explores the lesser-known lives of women such as photographer Claude Cahun and illustrator Suzanne Malherbe, who, during the German occupation of France, narrowly escaped death for their involvement in the resistance, and Lee Miller, a Vogue photographer turned war correspondent, known for her arresting images of the aftermath of the London Blitz and the atrocities at the Dachau concentration camp. Chadwick notes that, for all their differences, her subjects share a common refusal to passively live only as inspirations to men, a notion best articulated by painter Leonora Carrington, who asserted, “I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse.... I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist.” This is an accessible and invigorating study of female friendship and art history. Photos. (Oct.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly referred to the book's author as a male.