大象传媒

Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Lucy Powell tells the story of five brilliant women, all the siblings of renowned achievers in the arts and science, whose own success was overlooked 鈥� either by their own epoch, or by the annals of history ever since. Virginia Woolf famously reflected on the neglect of brilliant women with her fiction of "Shakespeare鈥檚 Sister鈥�.

Lucy considers how the life of Madame E Toussaint Welcome, sister to Harlem renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee. 鈥楳adame鈥� - or Jenny Louise - once described herself as 鈥榯he foremost female artist of the race鈥�. She was one of the first African American film directors, and one of the very few women directing films in the silent era. She established an art school, a photographic studio, a film studio, and a documentary that advanced the civil rights movement. And yet, as Lucy discovers, despite her extraordinary achievements, she and her work lie largely forgotten.

Produced by Debbie Kilbride
A Tempo & Talker production