Women Walking: Freedom, Adventure, Independence

This elegant survey of more than 60 works of art chronicles the nascent liberation when women began to walk freely by themselves in public.

At the close of the eighteenth century, women began to discover a new sense of freedom, adventure, and self-determination, simply by walking in public unaccompanied. Previously, solitary walks by women were considered unseemly. An unaccompanied hike in the country was beyond imagination; to promenade by oneself on city boulevards was unthinkable.

This boo...