Eileen Cooper OBE RA has been consistently successful across her 50-year career, the influence of her art seen in the range and depth of her work as well as in her contribution to art education. Cooper's artistic experiences - which, in the words of Linsey Young, disrupt the neat patriarchal understandings of women - are brought together in this thoughtfully designed and elegant hardback. Early works are illustrated alongside previously unseen drawings, paintings, prints, ceramics and portraits, many of which will surprise readers. The authors also consider Cooper's work in relation to the collections of Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, including works by Peter Doig, Paula Rego, Pablo Picasso, Dame Laura Knight and Lotte Laserstein.

How do women paint or photograph each other? How do they represent each other in performance or sculpture? As mothers or heroines? With tenderness, aggression or respect? Madam & Eve explores the female gaze as it focuses on other women. The authors - an artist and a curator - investigate the work of over 200 artists, ranging from the well-established to the lesser known. A historical introduction sets up the artistic and cultural context for the rest of the book, which focuses on art since the 1970s and covers the universal themes of the body, life, death, stories, and icons. The result is an amazing parade of artworks: eye-catching, poignant, powerful, political, idiosyncratic, playful, awkward, passionate, sexy, and positive. It is also an eloquent examination of the impact that the feminist movement has had on contemporary art.