A revisionist book championing the women left out of art history has scooped the Waterstones Book of the Year.
Every year, Waterstones booksellers vote on the titles they have most enjoyed recommending to customers, and this year Hampstead historian Katy Hessel's The Story of Art Without Men came out top.
Hessel founded @thegreatwomenartists Instagram, and accompanying podcast after realising she struggled to name twenty women artists off the top of her head. It sent her on a search to celebrate overlooked and forgotten women artists.
Kate Skipper of Waterstones said the book was: "Written with wit and ease and packed full of beautiful illustrations; a feast for the senses, as well as the mind.”
Hessel said winning was "a dream come true" and "a testament to all the incredible people who have fought for their place in history, but also the deserved hunger for these artists' lives who have too often been overlooked. This book would not be possible without all the writers, scholars, artists and historians who came before me, and I could not be more grateful to Waterstones for being the most brilliant champions of the book."
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