Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986)

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she considered one at the time of her death, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.

Oil on Linen 35x30 cm

Beauvoir wrote novels, essays, short stories, biographies, autobiographies, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She was best known for her "trailblazing work in feminist philosophy", The Second Sex (1949), a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. In the book Beauvoir asserted that women are as capable of choice as men, and thus can choose to elevate themselves, moving beyond the "immanence" to which they were previously resigned and reaching "transcendence", a position in which one takes responsibility for oneself and the world, where one chooses one's freedom.

Oil on Canvas 85x70 cm

She was also known for her novels, the most famous of which were She Came to Stay (1943) and The Mandarins (1954).  She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961, 1969 and 1973.  However, Beauvoir generated controversy when she briefly lost her teaching job after being accused of sexually abusing some of her students.

Beauvoir died of pneumonia on 14 April 1986 in Paris, aged 78.  She is buried next to Jean Paul Sartre at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.  She was honoured as a figure at the forefront of the struggle for women's rights around the time of her passing.

Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.  She significantly reduced death rates by improving hygiene and living standards. Nightingale gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

Oil on Canvas 61x51 cm 🟢

While better known for her contributions in the nursing and mathematical fields, Nightingale is also an important link in the study of English feminism.  Her writing protested the over-feminisation of women into near helplessness, such as Nightingale saw in her mother's and older sister's lethargic lifestyle, despite their education.  Her writing is seen as a link between that of Mary Wollstonecraft and Virginia Woolf.

Pauline Boty 1938-1966

“Lots of women are intellectually more clever than lots of men…” .

Boty was a British painter and co-founder of the 1960s' British Pop art movement of which she was the only acknowledged female member. Boty's paintings and collages often demonstrate a joy in self-assured femininity and female sexuality, as well as criticism (both overt and implicit) of the "man's world" in which she lived. Her rebellious art, combined with her free-spirited lifestyle, has made Boty a herald of feminism.

Pauline Boty Oil on Linen 70×60 cm

Her unique position as Britain's only female Pop artist gave Boty the chance to redress sexism in her life as well as her art. Her early paintings were sensual and erotic, celebrating female sexuality from a woman's point of view. Her canvases were set against vivid, colourful backgrounds and often included close-ups of red flowers, presumably symbolic of the female sex. She exhibited in several group shows before staging her first solo exhibition at Grabowski Gallery in the autumn of 1963. The show was a critical success. Boty also took acting jobs supplement her income even making a brief appearance in a scene with Michael Caine in the 1966 film, Alfie.

In 1965 Boty became pregnant. During a prenatal exam, a tumour was discovered and she was diagnosed with cancer. She refused to have an abortion and also refused to receive chemotherapy treatment that might have harmed the foetus. Her daughter, Katy was born on 12 February 1966. Pauline Boty died at the Royal Marsden Hospital on 1 July that year.  She was 28 years old. Her daughter, died of an overdose on 12 November 1995 aged 29. On 1 July 2023, a Blue Plaque was erected for Boty at 7A Addison Avenue, Holland Park at her former home and studio. The unveiling was carried out by Natalie Gibson and Celia Birtwell with Sir Peter Blake in attendance alongside other friends, family and admirers of Boty.

Pauline Boty Oil on Linen 35x30 cm