This fascinating, interdisciplinary, and generously illustrated book presents creative pairings that defy the idea of the modern artist as a solitary genius. In the art world, pairs of individuals often inspire each other's works. These intimate relationships are explored in all their various forms - obsessional, conventional, mythic, fleeting, life-long - in this book that illuminates the works of painters, sculptors, photographers, designers, poets, writers, musicians, dancers, and performers of the modern era. In addition to introductory essays, each couple is profiled in brief chapters that feature candid portraiture, illustrations of the works that illuminate the impact each had on the other, and an introductory text that pinpoints the significance of the relationship. Two additional chapters focus on surrealist couples and the Temple of Friendship in Paris to explore the common traits of collaboration, friendship, anti-establishment notions and radicalism that variously characterised these largely literary groups. Reflecting a contemporary view of sexuality and relationships, this book also offers a counterpoint to the notion of the female as muse, highlighting instead female empowered relationships and emphasising a new balance between male and female creative output. Featuring artists across a wide variety of disciplines, this volume also reveals how creative individuals came together to overcome the constraints of their time, reshape art, redefine gender stereotypes, and forge new ways of living. AUTHORS: Ane Alison leads the visual arts program at the Barbican, London.

She has curated many memorable exhibitions including Colour after Klein (2005), Viktor & Rolf (2008), and The Surreal House (2010). Coralie Malissard is Assistant Curator at the Barbican, London. She holds a Master's in Curating from the Courtauld Institute and a Bachelor's degree in Art History from Cambridge University. SELLING POINTS: * Many famous modern artistic couples are featured in this book such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Gabriele Munter and Wassily Kandinsky, Virginia Woolf and Leonard Woolf, and Maria Martins and Marcel Duchamp. * This book attempts to shows women artists in these couples as being as important as the men and not just as muses. 300 images.