Through ninety works this catalogue brings out the different aspects of representation and self-representation: a form of introspection or of self-assertion, an opportunity to discover one's own weaknesses or to underline one's seductive power. But the portraits gathered here also test the commonplaces about women and their image.

Among the artists documented stand many of the best-known names in the history of the medium, from Man Ray and Cartier-Bresson to Herb Ritts and Robert Mapplethorpe, from Wanda Wulz to Cindy Sherman. Among the subjects are the women artists who marked the history of art from the avant-gardes onwards.