Podcast
The Great Women Artists
Hosted by Katy Hessel · EN
Created off the back of @thegreatwomenartists Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating women artists. Presented by art historian and curator, Katy Hessel, this podcast interviews artists on their career, or curators, writers, or general art lovers, on the female artist who means the most to them.
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Episodes
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Nicholas Fox Weber on Anni Albers
Mar 1100:49:30Tap to summarizeTODAY on the GWA Podcast: the renowned art historian and writer, Nicholas Fox Weber discussing ANNI ALBERS! A graduate of Columbia College and Yale University, who received his PhD at the University of Groningen, Weber is a prolific and esteemed author of over a dozen books – including The Bauhaus Group, Le Corbusier, Balthus A Biography, Patron Saints, The Art of Babar, and many more – as well as being the founder of a non-profit organisation that supports arts, education and medical care in Senegal… But! The reason why we are speaking to him today is because, for nearly 50 years, he has devoted himself to the lives and works of the pioneering 20th century German-born artists – who lived in the US for much of their adult life – Josef and Anni Albers. As the Executive Director of their foundation, Weber has written extensively on them, bringing their work to the fore, and championing and preserving their legacy. While Josef Albers is a trailblazing artist whose theories on colour, and teaching methods, have shaped much of contemporary art, it is the brilliant Anni Albers who we will be discussing today. Born in 1899, and a student of the Bauhaus and a teacher at Black Mountain College, Albers is known for spellbinding weavings that span large-scale practical wall-coverings to smaller thread-based works that she infused with geometric, rhythmic patterning and electric colouring. The first artist working in textile to be honoured with a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and a celebrated writer known for her books – On Designing / On Weaving – Albers, it is fair to say brought the medium into the modernist world, while also deeply rooting it in ancient textile traditions from around the world. I am delighted to be speaking to Weber ahead of the publication of his extraordinary new book, Anni Albers: A Life, out this April, that charts the life of this artist who he was lucky enough to call a close friend, and who we are lucky to now witness in a new way thanks to the extensive personal stories he has gathered from the many times they would meet, whereby he would rush to write down everything she said verbatim, so we could one day have this extraordinary record. HIS BOOK: https://www.waterstones.com/book/anni-albers/nicholas-fox-weber//9780300269376?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=626889&awc=3787_1773140986_d2d13306eaf5d21d4b7bc0e74ed2dd43&utm_source=626889&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=adstrong -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
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Katherine Rundell – World Book Day Special!
Mar 400:48:11Tap to summarizeI am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the author, academic, screenwriter, creator of fantastical worlds and nocturnal roof-climber, Katherine Rundell. An award-winning non-fiction author for adults and fiction writer for children – whose books have sold over 4million copies worldwide, Rundell has penned works that span from the Impossible Creatures series – set in magical, endangered Archipelago – to Rooftoppers, about a young girl called Sophie who climbs the roofs of Paris in search of her mother, which is, one of my favourites. Because another of Rundell’s great works is Why You Should Read Children’s Books Even Though You Are So Old and Wise, a small yet mighty book that argues for children’s fiction as integral to our reading output. A place which invites us not only to understand the fundamentals of good and evil, but reminds us of the importance of taking kids seriously, as Sophie, the protagonist in Rooftoppers, reminds us: “Do not underestimate children, do not underestimate girls.” I also highly recommend Rundell’s lecture on this subject that was published in the London Review of Books last winter. A Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford and quondam fellow of All Souls College, Oxford – where she was admitted as the youngest fellow in 2008 – Rundell is also a scholar on the 16th century poet, preacher, politician, lawyer, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral (and more) John Donne, with her electrically-written biography, Super Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne that won her the Baillie Gifford Prize. A #1 NYT and ST bestselling author, the winner of Waterstones Book of the Year, and the Author of the Year, as recognised by the British Book Awards, Rundell is one of our greatest thinkers, writers, creators, and campaigner for “putting imagination first”. And it is reading her books that I am reminded of that superpower, the brilliance of human capability that not only gets us to dream up different worlds, but imagine how we can make this complex one a much more beautiful and better place. This week marks World Book Day 2026, and excitingly the publication of my first children's book, so I couldn't be more honoured to speak with Katherine today, about writing, art, books, and more. –– KATHERINE'S BOOKS: https://www.waterstones.com/author/katherine-rundell/53343 MY CHILDREN'S BOOK! https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9780241824214 -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
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Tracey Emin
Feb 2501:00:00Tap to summarizeDame Tracey Emin is BACK on The GWA Podcast! Hailed for her paintings, videos, textiles, neons, writing, sculptures, installations, and now, her extraordinary work as an educator, raising the next generation of artists at TKE Studios in Margate, right by where we are recording today – Emin has been at the forefront of art for more than four decades. Born in Croydon, and raised in Margate with her twin brother Paul, Emin had a complex child- and teenagehood, which she details in her part-memoir, Strangeland – as well as in works such as Why I Never Became a Dancer or Mad Tracey From Margate. Officially leaving school aged 15, Emin went to Maidstone College of Art, and onto the Royal College – where she won over her interviewees with her impressive sketch book selection. In 1993, she kept a shop in Brick Lane, titled “The Shop”, which ended with a party on her 30th birthday, and that year had her first exhibition – at a then-new gallery called White Cube. On view were objects she had collected over the years – from teenage diaries to toys, paintings, drawings and unsent letters. She titled it My Major Retrospective, just in case she never had another show. However, this was just the start. Emin has since exhibited all over the world – most recently the Yale Center for British Art, where I saw her work a floor above JMW Turner, getting me to realise the painterly relationship between the two artists – despite working 250 years apart – from how Emin plays with moods akin to his stormy weathers, to how the bodies in her paintings evoke his mountainous landscapes, with vein-like rivers. As well as Palazzo Strozzi, highlighting Emin's relationship to the history and iconography in Italian art – such as life, death and the crucifixion, to the decay of the body and enlightenment through spiritual (and sexual) quests. It challenged the city’s history, revealing the rawness of a woman's perspective in a culture that so rarely addressed it. Now, we meet in Margate on the occasion of the largest – and perhaps the most important – exhibition in her life so far, “A Second Life” opening at Tate Modern on 27 February, in the very city where her artistic life thrived. But it’s also a show taking place after monumental personal shifts, such as her mother’s passing in 2016, surviving cancer in 2020, the opening of her free studio-based art school in 2023, but also when the world couldn’t be more excited for Emin. She has said of this show to be a “true celebration of living” and I can’t wait to find out more… -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
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Audiobook teaser: The Story of Art without Men – for younger readers!
Feb 1800:10:19Tap to summarizeI am very excited to announce that I have written a new book, The Story of Art without Men: An illustrated guide to amazing women artists (out on 5 March!). It’s an adaptation of The Story of Art without Men for readers aged 8–14 (and above), brought to life with beautiful illustrations by Ping Zhu and artworks from the past 500 years. From the Renaissance to the present day, via Cornwall, Japan, Paris and New York City, this book features a whole host of artistic trailblazers, freedom fighters, and game changers. We look at Surrealism – a movement born out of the horrors of the First World War in Paris, where artists turned to their imaginations and away from the broken world around them for inspiration… LISTEN TO A TEASER HERE... as I take my reader through the magical worlds of Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Lee Miller, and more. Pre-order now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9780241738191 Signed copy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-art-without-men/katy-hessel/9780241824214 Personalised copy: https://www.pickledpepperbooks.co.uk/products/the-story-of-art-without-men-an-illustrated-guide-to-amazing-women-artists-personally-signed-pre-order-5th-march Audible version: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Story-of-Art-without-Men-Audiobook/B0FL842C9G?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=af5062e9-57de-425c-9e02-6d8ad006b9aa&pf_rd_r=MPG0TFFB1QZHFK2NBZ63&plink=loLGYMj2VPTh5M0d&pageLoadId=eNJzHRjC9m8z0lhu&creativeId=83220593-1d50-4883-bad4-b5d505543719&ref=a_author_Ka_c9_lProduct_1_3
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How to Live an Artful Life: December
Nov 3000:08:50Tap to summarizeDear listeners, As we enter a new month of December, I wanted to share a teaser of the audiobook of my new book, How to Live an Artful Life. https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-live-an-artful-life/katy-hessel/9781529155204 Here is an extract from the month of December, featuring its introduction and the first five days. Each month is based around a theme. For example, January is about seeking out ideas, February is about love, and September focuses on time. December's is joy and features thoughts, reflections, creative exercises and daily routines from the likes of Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, and more. A time of celebration, light and beauty; a time to spend with family and take part in festivities; to relish in the delights that the gift of art can give, and to take stock in everything you’ve discovered, learnt, tried and tasted this year. As we embark on this month, before we start again in January, think of December – like art – as a gift that has been given to you, full of work yet to be written, painted, sculpted and more; people whom you have yet to meet, talk to or fall in love with.
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Bonus: Katy Hessel & Es Devlin
Nov 2800:58:00Tap to summarizeI am so excited to bring you this conversation with the extraordinary Es Devlin, who joined me at Liberty last week to celebrate the release of How to Live an Artful Life. Es Devlin is an artist and stage designer renowned all over the world for her large-scale performative sculptures and environments – from theatre and opera design for the National Gallery and Royal Opera House, to kinetic stage sculptures for musicians like Beyoncé, U2 and Lady Gaga. She has also created luminous installations at the V&A, Serpentine Galleries, Somerset House, and more. Whether designing for Beyoncé, the opera, or creating public artworks, Es Devlin’s works dissolve the boundaries between art, architecture and performance, and encourage us to rethink our position in the world. Expertly led by the wonderful Hannah Macinnes, we touched on all things to do with living an artful life – Es’s morning routine; how we can get better at focusing our attention on one thing; artmaking as an expression of love; the artist hustle – and so much more. I can’t wait for you to hear it. Pick up your copy of How to Live an Artful Life: https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-live-an-artful-life/katy-hessel/9781529155204 An Atlas of Es Devlin https://www.waterstones.com/book/an-atlas-of-es-devlin/es-devlin/andrea-lipps/9780500023181
Transcribe →Magda Keaney on Julia Margaret Cameron
Nov 1200:40:40Tap to summarizeI am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the esteemed curator, author, and expert in photography, Madga Keany. Currently the Head Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Art, Canberra, Magda was most recently Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, and before that, Senior Curator, Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery London, where she lead the realisation of a major re-presentation of the Photographs Collection as part of the museum’s rehaul. Keany has curated shows and published texts on Australian art, design and social history, photography that ranges from the Victorian period to fashion, conflict and portraiture, solo presentations of portraits by Irving Penn, among many others. She has written for the groundbreaking Know My Name project, that put women artists in Australia on a global stage as well as for Cindy Sherman, A World History of Women Photographers, and more. …but it was her exhibition last year that really grabbed my attention: Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream in', that brought together the two photographers working 100 years apart, from very different worlds, circumstances and contexts, but which showed how these pioneering women shaped the medium, with their dreamlike pictures imbued with beauty, symbolism, classicism, transformation and more… So today, I couldn’t be more excited to delve into the life of the 19th century photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, who, aged 49 in 1863, picked up a camera and, largely self-taught, crafted her distinct bohemian style pictures with that hazy sepia glow, that proved to not only be influential in Victorian Britain, but have a huge impact on photography at large. As Cameron once said: “My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the real & Ideal & sacrificing nothing of Truth by all possible devotion to poetry and beauty.” And I can’t wait to find out more. People mentioned: Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879) Francesca Woodman (1958–1981) John Herschel (1792–1871) Artworks: Julia Margaret Cameron, Annie, 1864; https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O81145/annie-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/ Julia Margaret Cameron, Pomona, 1872; https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1433678/pomona-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/ Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Carlyle, 1867; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/269434 Julia Margaret Cameron, The Astronomer, 1867; https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1433637/the-astronomer-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/ Julia Margaret Cameron, Ellen Terry, at the age of sixteen, 1864 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/269433 -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
Transcribe →Megan Fontanella on Gabriele Münter
Nov 500:42:06Tap to summarizeI am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast today is the esteemed curator, Megan Fontanella. A specialist in Modern Art and Provenance at the Guggenheim New York, Fontanella’s research interests focus on late 19th and early 20th European art and the avant-garde in the USA. She has organised a plethora of exhibitions for the Guggenheim across the globe, from Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim (2017); Kandinsky (2020–21); Kandinsky: Around the Circle (2021–22; 2023–24); Young Picasso in Paris (2023), as well as travelling collection exhibitions in Australia, Canada, and Europe. But the reason why we are speaking to Fontanella today is because she is very excitingly curating a monumental exhibition by the German Expressionist, Gabriele Münter. Titled Contours of a World, the show – opening 7 November through to April 2026 – will feature 60 of the artist’s luminous, bold, sometimes rapidly-made paintings – from her portraits of friends to landscapes of the German alpine town of Murnau – that chart the changing face of modernism in art. Focusing on 1908 to 1920, it will deep-dive into her involvement with “The Blue Rider” – a group of visionary artists and writers who explored how colour and form could evoke emotion and spiritualist ideas – to the works she made during the First World War. Gabriele Münter: Contours of a World is on view at Guggenheim New York, 7 Nov – 26 Apr 2026: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/gabriele-munter Artists mentioned: Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”) group Artworks mentioned: Gabriele Münter - Still Life on the Tram After Shopping (1909–1912) Gabriele Münter - Portrait of Marianne Werefkin (1909) Gabriele Münter - Boating (1910) Gabriele Münter - Meditation (1917) Gabriele Münter - Future (Woman in Stockholm) (1917) Gabriele Münter - Portrait of Anna Roslund (1917) Gabriele Münter - Lady in an Armchair, Writing (1929) Gabriele Munter - Breakfast of the Birds (1934) -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
Transcribe →Ekow Eshun on Toni Morrison, Octavia E. Butler, Hilary Mantel, Wangechi Mutu, and more
Oct 2901:02:48Tap to summarizeI'm so excited to say that today’s guest on the Great Women Artist Podcast is the esteemed curator, writer, broadcaster and cultural trailblazer, Ekow Eshun. Born in North-west London in 1968, Eshun has been at the forefront of creative culture for decades. Writing across subjects and presenting documentaries, Eshun has curated groundbreaking exhibitions. From the 2022 In the Black Fantastic, at the Hayward in London – to The Time Is Always Now, a study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art, that began at London’s National Portrait Gallery, and has since travelled across the US. The author of multiple books: in 2006, he published his memoir: “Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa” an exploration of identity and race, that sees Eshun travelling through Ghana in search of his roots. And in 2024, The Strangers, a stunning work of creative nonfiction that tells the story of five pioneering Black men set against a vivid backdrop of art, culture, and resistance. So for this special episode we are going to deep dive into the women writers and artists who have influenced his life and career, including Morrison, the pioneering science fiction writer, Octavia E. Butler, Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu, the Rotterdam based artist Ellen Gallagher, and photographer Liz Johnson Artur. Because, as Eshun himself says, “The great thing about working with artists is they don’t walk a straight line or think along linear paths; they think in patterns, allowing us to approach long-established conversations from a novel perspective.” Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) Hilary Mantel (1952–2022) Wangechi Mutu (b.1972) Ellen Gallagher (b.1965) Liz Johnson Artur (1964) Toni Morrison (1931–2019) Exhibitions mentioned: In the Black Fantastic, 2022, Hayward Gallery, London: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery/past-exhibitions/in-the-black-fantastic/ The Time Is Always Now, 2024-present, touring: https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2024/the-time-is-always-now The Clearing, space Un gallery, Tokyo, November 2025; https://www.artweektokyo.com/en/institution-gallery/space-un/ Books mentioned: Octavia Butler - Parable of the Sower (1993) https://www.waterstones.com/book/parable-of-the-sower/octavia-e-butler/9781472263667 Octavia Butler - XenoGenesis trilogy; Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989) https://www.octaviabutler.com/xenogenesis-series Hilary Mantel - The Wolf Hall trilogy; Wolf Hall (2009), Bring Up the Bodies (2012), and The Mirror & the Light (2020) https://www.waterstones.com/book/wolf-hall/hilary-mantel/9780008381691 Ekow Eshun - Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa (2006): https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780141010960?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=117976&awc=3787_1761656125_d069bd054bf50de1a9bfc45991a52d17&utm_source=117976&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Penguin+Books Ekow Eshun - The Strangers (2024): https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-strangers/ekow-eshun/9780241990698 Herman Melville - Moby Dick (1851) https://www.waterstones.com/book/moby-dick/herman-melville/andrew-delbanco/9780142437247 Toni Morrison - Beloved (1987) https://www.waterstones.com/book/beloved/toni-morrison/9780099760115 -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
Transcribe →Emily Kam Kngwarray as told by Kelli Cole [Exhibition walkthrough at Tate Modern!]
Jul 8, 202500:30:50Tap to summarizeI am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the esteemed curator Kelli Cole to discuss the trailblazing Australian artist, Emily Kam Kngwarray! This is a very special BONUS episode and [as a one-off format] an exhibition walkthrough of Kngwarray's show at TATE MODERN. This is the first large-scale presentation of Kngwarray’s work ever held in Europe and a celebration of her extraordinary career as one of Australia’s greatest artists. Born in 1914, from the Alhalker Country in the Northern Territory, Kngwarray made thousands of works, reflecting her life as an Anmatyerr woman, but was – extraordinarily – only in her late 70s when she began painting in earnest, creating for ceremonial purposes and designs on the bodies of women. Listen to us explore the exhibition: witnessing first hand some of the most dazzling paintings I’ve ever seen. So whether you’ll listen to this ahead of your visit, or be virtually transported here (for those who can’t be here in person), I hope we can bring the magic of her paintings alive for you. About our guest: A Warumungu and Luritja woman from Central Australia, Kelli Cole is the Director of Curatorial & Engagement for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia project in Alice Springs. Previously, she held the position of Curator of Special Projects in the First Nations portfolio at the National Gallery of Australia, and has contributed to numerous publications, both nationally and internationally, on various aspects of First Nations art. In 2022, she worked closely with another esteemed curator, Hetti Perkins, as part of the team for the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony. But the reason why we are speaking with Cole today is because she is the lead curator of a very exciting new exhibition here at London’s Tate Modern: Emily Kam Kngwarray! Link to show – to see the works: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/emily-kam-kngwarray --- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield
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