Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawsthorne

"I love this book! Brilliant biography of the... utterly fascinating artist Isabel Rawsthorne" Jennifer Higgie

"Every page is gripping, fascinating, forcefully and excitingly written, and sad." Andrew Motion

"Isabel Rawsthorne's life reads like a ready-made screenplay... - a poverty-stricken upbringing, world wars, espionage, affairs, addiction, politics... all set to a series of evocative cinematic backdrops. And that's before any mention of her career as one of the most hidden but influential artists of the 20th century." Interiors and Home

"Jacobi's bigger project here, seems to be to reimagine what an artist biography... can be." The Art Newspaper

"Highlights how talented women have often missed out on the recognition they deserved" Observer

Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawsthorne places Isabel Rawsthorne's painting career at the centre of the Parisian and London avant-garde movement. Her artistic journey was often overshadowed by her portrayal in the works of various friends, notably Epstein, Derain, Giacometti, Picasso, and Bacon.

This pioneering painter exhibited from the early 1930s, gained influence in the 1940s, and achieved recognition in the 1960s. However, in her later years, the biographies of Giacometti and Bacon highlighted her role more as a muse. Today, Rawsthorne's work is part of major collections. This beautifully illustrated book re-writes the narrative of the pre- and post-war art history she influenced, tracing her path through the upheavals of the 20th century and her singular relationships with some of its most fascinating figures.

A decade of research into the period, Rawsthorne's art and archives, and the memories of her friends, has revealed for the first time her role in a rebel group at the Liverpool School of Art; her experiences of success and tragedy in the 1930s as Jacob Epstein's studio assistant; her lifelong collaborations with Alberto Giacometti; and, post-war, her work with Francis Bacon and African Modernism in the 1960s, as well as her exceptional late work. It also unfolds the full story of her break from art during the Second World War when she was involved in black propaganda for the government.