Author Series | Bridget Quinn | Portrait of a Woman

Discover the story of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard-a long-ignored artist and feminist of eighteenth-century France. Award-winning author Bridget Quinn discusses her new book Portrait of a Woman during this virtual event for the Hudson Library & Historical Society. The book is a compelling and inspiring look at an artist too long overlooked.
Born in Paris in 1749, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard rose from shopkeeper’s daughter to an official portraitist of the royal court-only to have her achievements reduced to ash by the French Revolution. While she defied societal barriers to become a member of the exclusive Académie Royale and a mentor for other ambitious women painters, she left behind few writings, and her legacy was long overshadowed. This engaging biography offers a fascinating new perspective on the artist’s feminism, her sexuality, and her vision of the world. Portrait of a Woman expertly blends close analyses of paintings with broader context about the era and inserts delicately fictionalized interpersonal scenes that fill the gaps in the historical record.
Bridget Quinn is a writer, art historian, and critic. She is the author of the award-winning Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order) and She Votes: How U.S. Women Won Suffrage, and What Happened Next. A graduate of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and a regular contributor to the arts magazine Hyperallergic, Quinn is a sought-after speaker on women and art.