The White Dress

The third in Nathalie Le?ger's acclaimed genre-defying triptych of books about the struggles and obsessions of women artists. The White Dress is the third in Nathalie Le?ger's award-winning triptych of books about women who "through their oeuvre, transform their lives into a mystery" (ELLE). In Exposition, Le?ger wrote about the Countess of Castiglione, the most photographed woman of the nineteenth century; in Suite for Barbara Loden she took up the actress and filmmaker Barbara Loden; here, Le?ger grapples with the tragic 2008 death of Italian performance artist Pippa Bacca, who was raped and murdered while hiking from Italy to the Middle East in a wedding dress to promote world peace.
A harrowing meditation on the risks women encounter, in life and in art, The White Dress also brings to a haunting conclusion Le?ger's personal interrogation-sustained across all three books-of her relationship with her mother and the desire for justice in our lives.