Great women collectors /

Gere (art expert) and Vaizey (art critic) survey women collectors from the 18th century to the present, in short biographical essays beginning with Catherine the Great and ranging through royal mistresses, queen consorts, and aristocrats. Later chapters fluctuate between similar treatment of US women millionaires and thematic groupings of collectors under the headings of decorative arts, Faberge, Impressionism, and surrealism. The first half of the book largely focuses on England (as well as France and Russia), the second on the US. Among the more interesting issues raised to invite further research are the serious interests in botany and natural science linked with art collecting by 18th-century women, and the establishment of numerous private museums by 20th-century US women. Relationships among these collectors provide an interesting light on what affected their collecting. The chatty journalistic style, occasionally gushing, gives a taste of the high life and more than a whiff of scandal. Consideration of the art collected is regrettably superficial, too often reduced to listing categories of objects purchased in profusion. A short introductory essay offers some assessment of the nature of women's collecting tastes. A conclusion is lacking, as are footnotes, but the bibliography allows more exploration of these often fascinating women and their collections. General readers; lower-division undergraduates. J. Oliver; Colgate University

Two tomes focusing on extraordinary women collectors provide educational and amusing insights into many famous and soon-to-be-well-known heroines, from Joan Crawford and the duchess of Windsor to Katherine Dreier and Gabrielle Keiller. In the more scholarly of the two books, Gere and Vaizey produce a goodly amount of words and a number of photographs to document the past deeds of 35 women (and two men). Though many names have been engraved into museum cornerstones--Isabella Stewart Gardner and Peggy Guggenheim, to name two--here we are introduced to their personalities, direction (or lack of) for collections, and other global pursuits. A few retain world renown; Helena Rubenstein, the cosmetics queen, is memorable for her insistence on quantity and her fascination with eclectic Eastern objects and large jewelry that dwarfed a petite frame. Others are revered locally for their almost singleminded pursuit of art. Still others have remained relatively obscure. Whether endowed at birth with fortune or building wealth from scratch or through marriage, these women collectors, from 1750 to 1997, are now honored in one place. Papi and Rhodes of Sotheby's tend toward more elaborate and more frivolous descriptions of 18 women collectors--with many more color photographs and illustrations. The dozen-and-a-half portraits are divided equally among three types: screen actresses (and a diva), aristocracy, and society. And many names, having appeared in headlines throughout the years, will be familiar; these include Mary Pickford, Ava Gardner, Renata Tebaldi, and Barbara Hutton. The authors delve, as deeply as possible, into the provenance of the baubles; Charlie Chaplin, for instance, bestowed a consolation Maubossin gold-diamond-emerald bracelet on wife Paulette Goddard when she narrowly missed being cast as Scarlett O'Hara. Other facts, most probably, belong to the realm of celebrity watchers; for instance, the duchess of Windsor's artifacts netted $31 million at auction. Underneath the glitz and the glamour lies a well-documented sense of tragedy about lives and lifestyles; a 1992 auction of jewels and artifacts from the Princess von Turn and Taxis, for instance, was forced by the untimely death of husband Johannes. Fun facts for jewelry admirers and trivia buffs. --Barbara Jacobs

This groundbreaking volume examines European and American women's roles in patronage of the arts from Catherine the Great through Dominique de Menil. Gere and Vaizey, who write on the decorative and fine arts, respectively, here supply a text that is thoroughly scholarly if not overly stimulating and surprisingly lacking in a feminist interpretation. More than 30 personalities are brought together--including Gertrude Stein, the Cone sisters, and Isabella Stewart Gardner--within chapters such as "Royal Mistresses," "Royal Consorts," "The Decorative Arts," "American Chatelaines," and "Business Women." The discussion of Coco Chanel's life and adventures ranks among the most interesting. The 76 illustrations, 16 in full color, are particularly striking and worthy of note. Accessible to a lay audience, this is recommended for larger public libraries and graduate-level collections on art and women's studies.--Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.