Women and Art Contested Territory by Judy Chicago 1st Ed 1999 Hardcover Book

Description

Women And Art Contested Territory by Judy Chicago and Edward Lucie-Smith Hardcover Book.
Published: Watson-Guptill.
Publications, New York.
1999, First … more Women And Art Contested Territory by Judy Chicago and Edward Lucie-Smith Hardcover Book.
Published: Watson-Guptill.
Publications, New York.
1999, First Edition First Printing.
This hardcover book measures 9 1/4" X 11 1/4".
192 pages, with 220 color and black and white illustrations.
Condition: The book is in good condition, the dust jacket is worn at the top of the spine and bottom.


"Over the centuries, male artists and critics have laid claim to a gender monopoly on artistic "greatness." Yet many female artists have produced art of great power despite widespread hostility and practical obstacles. Some have received critical recognition; many more have remained obscure. One far-reaching consequence of this is that some of the most famous images of women have been produced by artists with no direct knowledge of the female experience. In this groundbreaking book, the feminist artist Judy Chicago and art historian Edward Lucie-Smith select and analyze images of women by both male and female artists from the whole of Western art history, these images proved a wide-ranging, spirited dialogue between the authors as they discuss some of the contrasting ways women have been portrayed.

Well-known feminist and artist Judy Chicago and the art historian Lucie-Smith explore many aspects of women and art in a dialogue that weaves around a broad selection of art both canonical and less well known. Lucie-Smith writes with his customary lucidity of the choices and contexts of the individual artists and works; Chicago provides an angry and personal counterpoint that remains true to the feminist viewpoint and its refusal to allow women to be used not as individuals but as objects. The volume is oversize, well illustrated, and will be thought-provoking reading for anyone who looks at art.
About the author

Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans five decades. Her influence both within and beyond the art community is attested to by her inclusion in hundreds of publications throughout the world. Her art has been frequently exhibited in the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, a number of the books she has authored have been published in foreign editions, bringing her art and philosophy to readers worldwide.
In addition to a life of prodigious art making, Chicago is the author of numerous books: "Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist," 1975 (subsequently published in England, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and China) and most recently made available as an ebook; "The Dinner Party: A Symbol of Our Heritage," 1979; "Embroidering Our Heritage: The Dinner Party Needlework," 1980 (also published in a combined edition in Germany); the "Birth Project", 1985 (Anchor/Doubleday); "Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light," 1993; "The Dinner Party / Judy Chicago," 1996; "Beyond the Flower: The Autobiography of a Feminist Artist," 1996 (Viking Penguin); "Fragments from the Delta of Venus," 2004 (powerHouse Books) and "Kitty City: A Feline Book of Hours," 2005 (Harper Design International). She published a final book on "The Dinner Party: From Creation to Preservation," 2007 (Merrell Publishers) in conjunction with the permanent housing of this icon of twentieth century art, now featured in Janson's, "A Basic History of Western Art." In 2014, a new original paperback book about "The Dinner Party" will be published by the Monacelli Press which will also publish Chicago's newest book "Institutional Time: A Critique of Studio Art Education."
For over five decades, Chicago has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power of art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change and to women's right to engage in the highest level of art production. As a result, she has become a symbol for people everywhere, known and respected as an artist, writer, teacher, feminist and humanist whose work and life are models for an enlarged definition of art, an expanded role for the artist, and women's right to freedom of expression.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This is a curiously interesting hybrid with two running commentaries per page. The central space is reserved for a somewhat traditional art historical text on women artists and images of women in art by British art critic/art historian Lucie-Smith. The rest is filled with the writings of one of the most opinionated and surely the most famous U.S.-based feminist artist, Chicago, creator of The Dinner Party. The collaboration is certainly eye-catching, but, despite 200 beautiful color plates, this is no coffee-table decoration. It seems compiled to capture the attention of any browsing reader of college age and above. Many of the ten chapters might startle the average readerAthey're explicit about gender issues, bodily functions, and other oddities that are now a part of contemporary art. For serious academic libraries with feminist and graduate collections.AMary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson Univ., MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A thematic overview of women's art that lumps disparate work together in gross categories based on archetype, stereotype, theme, and body part. Although artist Chicago and art historian Lucie-Smith sought to create a book that would delineate the contested terrain between women and art, their collaborative effort only blurs it with clich and generalization. From the opening chapter, which begins with the assertion that goddess imagery has ``seized the imagination of many women and been a continuing source of energy within feminism,'' they celebrate overlooked art based on its suitability to their ideological construct: that male artists, critics, and curators have overlooked and suppressed women work, which deserves to be seen and addressed. True, but no sustainable argument can emerge from such an a critical approach; all that remains is for the authors to provide a series of examples, which they do. Those examples break down into an unfortunate series of stock types, from the aforementioned goddesses to warrior women, madonnas, whores, martyrs, mothers, and daughters. And everywhere strategically placed throughout the textare images of Chicago's own work. Could she merely be seeking to recontextualize herself in the feminist canon (that of Frieda Kahlo, Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, even Mary Cassatt)? In light of the tremendous scholarship and theoretical insight that have been brought to bear on women art over the past ten years and the riveting arguments about identity politics that have followed the authors lack of critical sophistication is painful to behold. Even worse, many of the contemporary works pictured are shockingly banal chosen more for their subject matter than their visual, intellectual, or conceptual resonance. Chicago, apparently, is still very much in the grip of essential feminism, and her book suffers for it. As a critical text, Women and Art falls victim to old-style celebratory feminism, lauding without judgment or incisive, original thought. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. less