was included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris 1850-1900. New Woman As educational opportunities were made more available in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork made by women was considered to be inferior, and to help overcome that stereotype women became "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer "New Woman". Artists then, "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives," including Abbéma who created androgynous self-portraits to "link intellectual life through emphasis on ocularity". Many other portraits included androgynously dressed women, and women participating in intellectual and other pastimes traditionally associated with men. Gallery References External links Extensive website featuring many Abbéma artworks and writings (in French) Artcyclopedia listing Short biography at Tallulahs.com Short biography at Nelepets.com Louise Abbema in her studio, ca. 1885 1853 births 1927 deaths 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters People from Étampes Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French women painters 20th-century French sculptors 19th-century French sculptors 20th-century French women artists 19th-century French women artists French lesbian artists Lesbian sculptors Lesbian painters French LGBT painters French LGBT sculptors Belle Époque