Phoenix Art Museum, FOCUS on European Art present art talk on life and career of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi

Feb, 27, 2024

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Phoenix Art Museum, FOCUS on European Art present art talk on life and career of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi

Artist and historian Gina Siciliano—author of I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi—to discuss Gentileschi’s paintings, controversies, and new discoveries

PHOENIX (February 27, 2024) – This March, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) and FOCUS on European Art partner to present artist, historian, and musician Gina Siciliano, author of the graphic biography I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi. Siciliano will share the story of Italy’s most famous woman painter of the 17th century by discussing her work within the context of its time and place. She will also illuminate ongoing controversies and exciting new discoveries about Gentileschi’s iconic paintings. The event will be presented on March 27, 2024 at 7 pm at Phoenix Art Museum. Tickets are free for Museum Members and $5 for the public and can be reserved here. Siciliano will also host a book signing at The Museum Store following the public presentation.

Born in Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi is Italy’s most celebrated female painter of the 17th century. She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, and London for high-ranking members of European society, including the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Spain’s Philip IV. Gentileschi trained under her father Orazio Gentileschi, with her earliest signed painting dating from 1610. One year later, the artist was sexually assaulted by painter Agostino Tassi, and the ensuing trial was meticulously recorded in documents still readily accessible today. Tassi was found guilty and banished from Rome, although his punishment was never enforced. Following the trial, Gentileschi married and left for Florence, where she established herself as an independent artist. In 1616, she was inducted into the Academy of the Arts of Drawing and in 1620 returned to Rome. She lived there for 10 years until settling in Naples, where she worked and ran a successful studio until her death. The precise date of her death is unknown, but recently discovered documents show her still living in Naples as late as August 1654.

Author of I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi, Gina Siciliano is an artist, writer, musician, and historian living in Seattle. Her graphic biography of Gentileschi is a ground-breaking synthesis of academic research and ball-point pen art that took seven years to complete. I Know What I Am was released in the fall of 2019 by Fantagraphics, and since then, Siciliano has lectured about Gentileschi and shared the story of her graphic project with various museums, schools, and media, from the Seattle Art Museum to the BBC’s Radio 3, the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and more. In 2020, I Know What I Am won an Independent Publisher Award and an American Librarians Association award and was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award. Siciliano graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2007, where she studied oil painting, anatomical illustration, figure sculpture, comics, zines, and self-publishing. She’s continued oil painting, often utilizing early modern and Caravaggesque techniques. Siciliano is currently working on a series of new essay comics and teaching at both Hugo House and Gage Academy.

This event is hosted in partnership with FOCUS on European Art, a membership-based 501(c)(3) support organization that promotes education in the arts, with special emphasis on European art and art history.

For more information about this event, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2117 or samantha.santos@phxart.org. For more information on FOCUS on European Art, contact FocusOnEuropeanArt@outlook.com.

About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.

About Focus on European Art
FOCUS on European Art is a charitable organization that promotes education in the arts, with special emphasis on European art and art history. FOCUS organizes salons, presentations and other events virtually and in person for its members and guests, inviting distinguished local, national, and international scholars and curators as speakers. FOCUS also supports art education and collections in public art museums by funding acquisitions, exhibitions, conservation, educational programs, and other board-approved donations. To learn more about Focus on European Art, visit focusoneuropeanart.org.