"In this book, contributors identify and explore a range of iconic works – ""Mistress-Pieces"" – that have been made by feminists and gender activists since the 1970s. The first volume for which the defining of iconic feminist art is the raison d’être, its contributors interpret a ""Mistress-Piece"" as a work that has proved influential in a particular context because of its distinctiveness and relevance.
Reinterpreting iconic art by Alice Neel, Hannah Wilke and Ana Mendieta, the authors also offer important insights about works that may be less well known – those by Natalia LL, Tanja Ostojić, Swoon, Clara Menéres, Diane Victor, Usha Seejarim, Ilse Fusková, Phaptawan Suwannakudt □and Tracey Moffatt, among others. While in some instances revealing cross influences between artists working in different frameworks, the publication simultaneously makes evident how social and political factors specific to particular countries had significant impact on the making and reception of art focused on gender.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual studies and gender studies."
Edited by:
Brenda Schmahmann
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
Weight: 640g
ISBN: 9780367707453
ISBN 10: 0367707454
Series: Routledge Research in Gender and Art
Pages: 262
Publication Date: 31 May 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Introduction Brenda Schmahmann Part I: Reconfiguring Domestic Life 1. The Aesthetic Labour of Protest, Now and Then: The Women’s Peace Camp at Greenham Common (1981-2000) Alexandra Kokoli 2. ""Middle fingers up, put them hands high"": Rethinking Tracey Moffatt’s Scarred for Life (1994) Jacqueline Millner and Catriona Moore 3. Bodies, Borders, and Law: Tanja Ostojić’s Looking for a Husband with EU Passport (2000-05) Hilary Robinson 4. Household Matters: Usha Seejarim’s Venus at Home (2012) and the Politics of Women’s Work Brenda Schmahmann Part II: Critiquing Gender Violence and Abuse 5. Hannah Wilke’s S.O.S. Starification Object Series (1974-82) in the Era of #MeToo Marissa Vigneault 6. Private Trauma, Public Healing: Hannan Abu Hussein’s The Vagina Series (begun 2002) Tal Dekel 7. Transgressive Martyrs in Diane Victor’s Wise and Foolish Virgins (2008) Karen von Veh 8. Swoon’s Medea (2017) as a Feminist Intervention: Re-producing the Maternal Paula J. Birnbaum Part III: Great Goddess Iconographies 9. Ana Mendieta’s Silueta Series (1973-80): In and Out of Feminism Sherry Buckberrough 10. Clara Menéres’ Woman-Earth-Life (1977) and the Politics of Censorship, Concealment and Vandalism Laura Castro 11. The Female Body and Spirituality in Ilse Fusková’s El Zapallo (1982) Series María Laura Rosa Part IV: Body Politics 12. Who is Afraid of Natalia LL? Consumer Art (1972-75) and the Pleasures and Dangers of Feminist Art in Communist Poland Joanna Inglot 13. An Icon for the Aged: Alice Neel’s Self-Portrait (1980) Pamela Allara 14. Phaptawan Suwannakudt’s Akojorn (1995): Connecting Women Yvonne Low 15. Into the grave and back: Psychosomatic passage through grief in Lindi Arbi’s Unearthed (2009) Irene Bronner"
Brenda Schmahmann is Professor and the SARChI Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
