The Other Side is published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson: buy here; i
n Australia by Hachette: buy here; i
n the USA by Pegasus Books: buy here.
Read Mary Gabriel’s wonderful review in The New York Times here. An excerpt: ‘
The strength of Higgie’s book is that it is not merely another treatise on the wrongs suffered by women artists throughout history. This tale is about something much larger than grievance. There is a vein of optimism and wonder running through the text. The women whom Higgie profiles created, and they did so despite cultural scorn.’
The Other Side lit up my brain. A radical, fascinating exploration of art and the otherworldly, Higgie is an expert and erudite guide in this brilliant reclamation of female artists.
KATY HESSEL author of THE STORY OF ART WITHOUT MEN
Waterstones listed The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World as one of their best books of the year and Tate nominated it as a Book of the Month. In July, Stephanie Bishop reviewed it for The Monthly. An excerpt:
Unconventional ways of knowing are at the heart of Jennifer Higgie’s The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World, in which she offers a majestic account of the ways in which women’s art has developed in response to spiritual experience. […] The reach of Higgie’s book is endlessly surprising and ambitious. […] The resulting dialogue is a rich and moving account of creativity, one that invites us to engage with alternative modes of being. At a time when there is a ‘widespread hunger for new ways of inhabiting the planet’, Higgie’s corrective history not only encourages a different kind of attunement to the world and our place in it, but also brings long- overdue recognition to the women who were bold enough to step out of the fray and give shape and colour to new ways of seeing.
Among the many reviews of my book, given that I don’t always want to preach to the choir, I also particularly loved Lucy Scholes in The Telegraph, who wrote that she ‘found The Other Side endlessly intriguing. I wasn’t converted, but I was rather enchanted.’ I appreciated Francesca Peacock’s thoughtful review in Prospect and was also very touched by Katie Ebbitt’s considered interview with me for Violet magazine. I’ve also been so moved by the readers who have got in touch and who I’ve met at signings and talks.
An entrancing look at formerly neglected artists who navigated thresholds between this world and the next, and a crucial exploration of realms formerly dismissed. Elegantly expanded my thinking on the eternal mystery of where art comes from.
SINÉAD GLEESON author of CONSTELLATIONS
Wonderful . . . Higgie guides us through overlooked stories from the history of art and reveals the insights into the nature of imagination which reside there. Illuminating in every sense of the word.
JENNIFER LUCY ALLAN author of THE FOGHORN'S LAMENT
Jennifer Higgie is the most splendid of guides on this enthralling journey of a book. With tremendous intelligence, sensitivity and a receptivity nearly equal to that of her subjects, she leads us through a gallery of remarkable women artists whose dialogue with other realms became the font of their creativity as well as a sanctuary. Excellent, inspiring and transformative.
JOHN HIGGS author of WILLIAM BLAKE VS THE WORLD
In effervescent and atmospheric prose, Jennifer Higgie explores some of history's most innovative artists and their spiritual investigations into this realm and the next. I was entranced from start to finish, as she takes us on both a personal and artistic journey across time and across the globe. The Other Side is an exhilarating read.
CHLOE ARIDJIS author of SEA MONSTERS
The US edition of The Mirror and the Palette is out now, published by Pegasus Books. US Vogue listed The Mirror and the Palette as ‘One of the Best Books to Read this Fall’ and the great painter Celia Paul reviewed it for The New York Times. I was also blown away by this wonderful review by the art historian Julie M. Johnson in the Times Literary Supplement: such a thoughtful, close reading.
The cover is designed by Amanda Hudson of Faceout Studio and features Nora Heysen’s self-portrait from 1932 in the collection of The Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Mirror and the Palette is available to buy in United Kingdom, Australia & US.
The Mirror and the Palette is available in hard-back and paperback. The beautiful cover image is Self-Portrait with Two Flowers in her Raised Left Hand by Paula Modersohn-Becker from 1907. (It’s in the collection of MoMA, New York.) Some lovely reviews by Nancy Durrant for the Evening Standard, Lucy Davies for The Telegraph, and Simeon House for the Daily Mail and Eliza Allan for Connect in Art.
I had the great privilege of writing a long essay for Judy Chicago’s New Museum retrospective ‘Herstory’ which opens in New York in October 2023. I asked Chicago what kind of connection she felt with women artists of the past. She replied, ‘Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton’s use of color is very akin to mine—high-key, thin, washed, the fusion of color and surface. It’s not a material object; it’s like a spiritual form, and I wanted to achieve that.’ As for what the word ‘spiritual’ means to her, ‘It’s a reverence for life’ and an acknowledgment of ‘the miracle of life.’ Here’s to that. Image: Judy Chicago: Boxing-ring advertisement, Artforum, 1971
I was honoured to write an essay for the exhibition catalogue for ‘Women and Change’ which has just opened at the Arken Museum in Denmark; it runs until 14 August 2022. From their website: The exhibition ‘unfolds how Western art history has depicted women from the Modern Breakthrough of the late nineteenth century to the most recent contemporary art. In a wealth of works of art by Danish and international artists, you can explore how artists have, over the course of the past 150 years, reflected, responded to and resisted changing perceptions of both women and gender: from Impressionist portraits to performative body art. From lush studies of nudes to critical examinations of how history is written’. My essay is titled ‘I am Here’ and I discuss, amongst many brilliant artists, the artist duo Marie Høeg (1866-1949) and Bolette Berg (1872-1944), who established the Berg & Høeg photography studio in Horten, Norway.
I wrote an essay titled 'Seeing the Seeing' for the beautiful new monograph on the New York-based painter, Jenna Gribbon.
‘Seeing the Seeing: The Paintings of Jenna Gribbon’ for GNYP Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
I wrote an essay for the book published to coincide with 'Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings' at The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The exhibition runs until 19 September 2021. Image: Hilma af Klint Group IV, The ten largest, no 7, adulthood 1907, HaK108. Courtesy of The Hilma af Klint Foundation. Photo: The Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Marilyn Minter's first exhibition in a French institution runs until 5 September 2021 at Mo.Co in Montpellier, France, 'Marilyn Minter: All Wet' is accompanied by a publication. I was honoured to write one of the essays, 'Skin Deep', alongside one by Nicolas Bourriaud and a conversation with the artist. I asked Marilyn what inspired her to paint her series ‘Bathers’ (2016-ongoing) of women in the shower. She told me that: ‘The power of sexual imagery has always been in the hands of the patriarchy. Women have never owned it. Women have rarely painted bathers – we’ve always been the subject.’ Image: Marilyn Minter, Nebulous, from the series 'Bathers' (2106-ongoing). Marilyn works with Regen Projects and Salon 94.
Sara Anstis The Drawer, pastel on paper, 2021, from her exhibition 'Pencil of Rays' at Fabian Lang in Zurich. I loved getting to know her remarkable drawings when I wrote an essay 'Where the Sharp Things Are: The Worlds of Sara Anstis' for the new publication on her work.
January 2021: I wrote an essay for the catalogue of Lisa's exhibition 'Smoke and Mirrors' at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands, which opened 21 November 2020 and runs until 5 April 2021. Image: Lisa Brice, Between This and That (2017) Synthetic gesso, tempera and ink on canvas.
December 2020: I wrote an essay for the painter Jadé Fadojutimi's new book Jesture, published by Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. Image: Jadé Fadojutimi, Jesture (2020) Oil and oil stick on canvas.
December 2020: I wrote about the tragedy of Juukan Gorge in Australia's Pilbara region: Rio Tinto mining executives knew the spiritual value of the ancient Indigenous site – and they blew it up anyway. Image: Protesters gathered at Rio Tinto’s headquarters in Perth after it destroyed a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site in the Pilbara region. Courtesy: ABC Perth’s Facebook page.
November 2020: I interviewed Tracey Emin about 'The Loneliness of the Soul', the exhibition she curated of her work alongside Edvard Munch's at London's Royal Academy, which opened 15 November 2020. Image courtesy: David Perry.
October 2021: I reviewed the thrilling exhibition devoted to the great Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi at London's National Gallery. Image: Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) (1638-39). Courtesy of Royal Collection Trust.
Bow Down: Women in Art History Series Two
Bow Down – the podcast I host about significant female artists who deserve our attention – returns for series two. My guests include the artists Sonia Boyce, Amalia Pica and Sally Smart; the filmmaker Mark Cousins; the musician Alison Goldfrapp; potter Magdalene Odundo; curator and fashion designer Duro Olowu and the legendary feminist art-historian Griselda Pollock. We discuss a cross-section of inspiring women artists from the past 150 years who hail from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Ukraine, the US and the UK.