Notwithstanding her best efforts, eighteenth-century French painter Vallayer-Coster was somewhat forgotten and overlooked in the years following her successful five-decade career in Paris. Now a new English publication, part of Lund Humphries’s Illuminating Women Artists book series dedicated to highlighting historic European female artists, offers a new look at her life and work.

Beyond a written portrait of Greenwood’s life, this book provides detailed context for the historic moments and forces that enveloped her. It follows over a decade of research and interviews by biographer Joanne Mulcahy and makes the case that Greenwood belongs more securely in twentieth century art history (albeit among those who charted less trendy paths).

A Victorian-era amateur photographer raised in an established Staten Island family, Austen focused her lens on the people and curiosities of her time, documenting her life as a lesbian long before the LGBTQ rights movement.