Ida Applebroog: Portraits

Available for preorder now, will be posted out 06.11.26

Ida Applebroog (1929–2023) described herself as ‘a woman artist with feminist concerns’ and was one of the foremost feminist artists of her generation. She came to prominence in New York in  the 1970s with a series of small self-published books that she sent  in the mail, and became known for both her instantly recognisable style of simplified forms with bold outlines, and her focus on themes of violence and power, and on women in the domestic, social and sexual arenas. 

Focusing on three key series of works made between 2006 and 2019 (Monalisa, The Ethics of Desire, Angry Birds of America) and including the very last Palette paintings she made in 2021, this fully illustrated book celebrates the singularity of Applebroog’s visual imagination. An essay from Jo Applin, an established authority on Applebroog’s practice, examines Applebroog’s feminism in the context of ageing; curator and writer Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti  turns her attention to humour in Applebroog’s work; and Andrew Coppola, one of Applebroog’s studio assistants, sheds new light on her working practices.

Ida Applebroog (1929–2023) was one of the foremost feminist artists of her generation, describing herself as ‘a woman artist with feminist concerns’. She came to prominence in New York in the 1970s with a series of small self-published books that she sent in the mail and became known for both her instantly recognisable style of simplified human forms with bold outlines, and her focus on themes of violence and power, and on women in the domestic, social and sexual arenas. 

Jo Applin is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on American and British art since 1945. She studied at the University of Essex and at University College London (UCL). From 2018 to 2021 she was Head of the History of Art Department at the Courtauld. Jo is the author of Alison Wilding (Lund Humphries, 2018) and Eccentric Objects: Rethinking Sculpture in 1960s America (Yale University Press, 2012). Her most recent book, Lee Lozano: Not Working (Yale University Press, 2018), was awarded the 
Suzanne and James Mellor Book Prize from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. She is currently working on a book about art and ageing. Jo is an editor of Oxford Art Journal and also sits on the editorial boards of Archives of American Art Journal and Tate Papers. 

Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti is a curator and art writer. She is currently Head Curator at Istituto Svizzero in Italy, where she curates the programmes of its venues in Rome, Milan, and Palermo. Her recent projects include the monographic exhibition how we always survived by Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, the group show Con lo zucchero in bocca in Rome; the exhibitions Deadline With The World by Gabriele Garavaglia and Miriam Laura Leonardi and The House of Dorothy by Vincent Grange in Milan; the public programme Time is on my side by Helvetropicos in Palermo (all 2025).

168pp; softback, 295 x 220 mm 
full colour, 120 colour illustrations 
ISBN 978-1-908612-83-0

Published by Fruitmarket, Edinburgh.