Authors

Discussion

Scholarship on women artists in Europe during the long nineteenth century has highlighted book illustration as a productive arena for professional work at a time when there were still many obstacles to a career in the fine arts. However, the position in Imperial Russia remains underrepresented in the literature. This paper explores some of the ways that women artists increasingly gained opportunities in publishing, and offers case studies of their experiences. It demonstrates how, by pursuing alternative mediums and marketplaces, women could actively progress their artistic lives in the public sphere. Such analyses reiterate the need for refreshed histories that reject notions of a "canon" predicated mainly on an artist's success in the fine arts.