Product Description

"The Power of Feminist Art is not a book: it's a milestone. . . . Until Power, feminist art has been conspicuously absent from standard academic narratives. . . . Now, no critic or historian, conservative or not, can argue that feminist art is insignificant."--Elizabeth Hess, Village Voice. 270 illustrations, 118 in full color.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #227652 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.com Review
Available in paperback for the first time, this landmark volume is the only comprehensive history of American feminist art available. Exhaustively researched, this book is encyclopedic in its documentation of the feminist art movement, which began more than 25 years ago in the United States, and that ultimately transformed the art world. The editors have brought together 18 influential art historians, critics, and artists to explore every aspect of feminist art. There are more than 270 illustrations (118 in full color) that feature the work of women painters, sculptors, photographers, and performance artists, and a fold-out, illustrated timeline presenting a selective chronology of important events in and surrounding the movement, from its earliest roots in the 1940s to the mid-1990s.

From Publishers Weekly
Collection of essays exploring various aspects of the feminist art movement.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
With 245 illustrations (118 in color), this work boasts a partisan but invaluable recounting of the U.S. feminist art movement of the 1970s. Most of the 18 contributors to the handsome, large-format volume are prominent first-generation feminist artists/historians, including Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Arlene Raven, and Linda Nochlin. Editors Broude and Garrard provide a 1990s deconstructivist overview of the times, as well as individual essays. Their evidence shows that the movement was distinct from postmodernism, involving collaborative social and political acts of feminist consciousness-raising and not limiting itself to the problem of essentialism. Essays address the 1980s backlash against feminism, reevaluating the reasons for its controversial and still-shocking image-making. The notes and bibliography are excellent. Highly recommended.
Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson State Univ., Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Phaidon Press Book is Better
The quality of the art covered in this book is highly uneven and many of the theories are terribly dated by today's standards. I get the impression that it was written more to promote the friends of the authors than to give an objective view of Feminist art. The Phaidon Press book, Art and Feminism (Themes & Movements), is MUCH better to the point that I am almost embarrassed to compare the two books.

There is a school of Feminist research that seems to equate technical accomplishment with patriarchy which conveniently allows mediocre art to seem quite important. Overall, the art in this book lacks guts, although some of it is good. Since it is no longer the only book of its type, get it only if you want to round off your collection. Otherwise, stick with the Phaidon Press book to which this one merely pales in comparrison.

An Essential Art History Book
This is currently my favorite art book. This is great collection of the artwork produced by female artists during the women's movement in the 70's and 80's. This book also chronicles this art movement and it effect on the 80's and very early 90's. Including many articles and thorough documentation of artwork this book is a smart look the amazing art that women created.
This book is essential to truly understand modern art history.

I love this book!!!!
This book shows that white males are trying to keep women from showing their work. Well, women are producing work which challenges white patriarchal paradigms, and they are succeeding brilliantly. This is a wonderful compendium of knowledge and insight. I'm giving it to my adopted Chinese daughter.