Another Step on the Ladder
Another Step on the Ladder is part of a series of works by Eileen Cooper about the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Skłodowska Curie, the inspiration of the exhibition Radium Dreams (2 March – 3 September 2023) at The Women’s Art Collection. The works conjure Curie’s remarkable life through closely observed moments of struggle, tenderness and joy.
This large-scale drawing explores the theme of creative support: between Marie Curie and her sister, BronisÅ‚awa. The ladder, which is a motif throughout the series, symbolises the way in which women lift each other up in life. Cooper’s powerful and distinctive iconography of female figures, which usually touches upon the universal, here finds expression in the real historical figure of Curie. This image, that features multiple women, was made as a direct response to the work 51¸£ÀûÉç does to champion and support women.
