Presenting a comprehensive analysis of the life and art of Romaine Brooks, this text reproduces in colour 34 of the 40 nudes and portraits she painted, as well as 37 automatic pen-and-ink drawings. The first female painter since Artemisia Gentileschi in the 17th century to portray an ideal of heroic femininity, Romaine Brooks (1874-1970), like her contemporary Gwen John, shaped an image of the androgynous New Woman for the 20th century.