Painting Her Pleasure : Three Women Artists and the Nude in Avant-Garde Paris

Building on the momentum of recent bestsellers like Katy Hessel’s The Story of Art Without Men, Painting her pleasure spotlights three extraordinary women who defied convention in the male-dominated world of early 20th-century Paris. Suzanne Valadon, Émilie Charmy, and Marie Vassilieff boldly claimed the nude— one of art’s most enduring and contested subjects—as their own.

These trailblazing artists shattered taboos with their depictions of the male nude, the Black female nude, the pregnant nude, and even the rare nude self-portrait. Their work not only challenged the boundaries of modernism but also paved the way for later feminist artists and thinkers.

Lauren Jimerson’s meticulously researched and beautifully written account places these women at the heart of the avant-garde, revealing the cultural stereotypes and gender regimes they worked against. Complete with numerous previously unpublished images, including 16 pages of colour illustrations, the book offers a fresh and intersectional feminist perspective on class, privilege, and race alongside gender.

Whether you’re an art historian, a feminist scholar, or simply someone inspired by stories of creative defiance, Painting her pleasure is an essential addition to your collection.