Who hasn't wondered where—aside from Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo—all the women artists are? In many art books, they've been marginalized with cold efficiency, summarily dismissed in the captions of group photographs with the phrase "identity unknown" while each male is named. Donna Seaman brings to dazzling life seven of these forgotten artists, among the best of their day. These women fought to be treated the same as male artists, to be judged by their work, not their gender or appearance. In brilliant, compassionate prose, Seaman reveals what drove them, how they worked, and how they were perceived by others in a world where women were subjects-not makers-of art.

This program is part of Bookends & Beginnings' contribution to the year-long conversation of art, community dialogue, and new works called The Women’s Voices Project, which is being curated by Piven Theatre to celebrate its 45th anniversary and honor its founder, Joyce Piven. On April 30, Bookends is hosting three programs on books that seek to empower women, all of them by accomplished, Chicago-area women authors.