Penelope Rosemont (ed.): Surrealist Women: An International Anthology (1998)

“Beginning in Paris in the 1920s, women poets, essayists, painters, and artists in other media have actively collaborated in defining and refining surrealism’s basic project—achieving a higher, open, and dynamic consciousness, from which no aspect of the real or the imaginary is rejected. Indeed, few artistic or social movements can boast as many women forebears, founders, and participants—perhaps only feminism itself. Yet outside the movement, women’s contributions to surrealism have been largely ignored or simply unknown.

This anthology, the first of its kind in any language, displays the range and significance of women’s contributions to surrealism. Letting surrealist women speak for themselves, Penelope Rosemont has assembled nearly three hundred texts by ninety-six women from twenty-eight countries. She opens the book with a succinct summary of surrealism’s basic aims and principles, followed by a discussion of the place of gender in the movement’s origins. She then organizes the book into historical periods ranging from the 1920s to the present, with introductions that describe trends in the movement during each period. Rosemont also prefaces each surrealist’s work with a brief biographical statement.”

Introductions by Penelope Rosemont
First published by Athlone Press, London, 1998
Publisher University of Texas Press, Austin, 1998
Surrealist Revolution series
ISBN 029277088X 9780292770881
lvii+516 pages

Review: Bertha Husband (ATC, 1999).

Publisher
WorldCat

PDF (19 MB, updated on 2017-11-21)

Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader (2015)

“Linda Nochlin (1931-2017) was one of the most accessible, provocative, and innovative art historians of our time. In 1971 she published her essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”—a dramatic feminist call-to-arms that called traditional art historical practices into question and led to a major revision of the discipline.

Women Artists brings together twenty-nine essential essays from throughout Nochlin’s career, making this the definitive anthology of her writing about women in art. Included are her major thematic texts “Women Artists After the French Revolution” and “Starting from Scratch: The Beginnings of Feminist Art History,” as well as the landmark essay and its rejoinder “‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’ Thirty Years After.” These appear alongside monographic entries focusing on a selection of major women artists including Mary Cassatt, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Kiki Smith, Miwa Yanagi, and Sophie Calle.

Women Artists also presents two new essays written specifically for this book and an interview with Nochlin investigating the position of women artists today.”

Edited by Maura Reilly
Publisher Thames & Hudson, London and New York, 2015
ISBN 9780500239292, 0500239290
472 pages

Reviews: Chris Kraus (NY Times, 2015), Publishers Weekly (2015).

Publisher
WorldCat

HTML

Re/Search, 13: Angry Women (1991)

“In this illustrated, interview-format volume, 16 women artists address the volatile issues of male domination, feminism, race and denial. Among the modern warriors here are Diamanda Galas, a composer of ritualistic ‘plague masses’ about AIDS who refuses to tolerate pity or weakness; Lydia Lunch, a self-described ‘instigator’ who explains that her graphic portrayals of exploitation stem from her victimization as a child; and Wanda Coleman, a poet who rages against racism and ignorance. Goddess worshipper and former porn star Annie Sprinkle enthusiastically promotes positive sexual attitudes; bell hooks discusses societal power structures in terms of race and gender; Holly Hughes, Sapphire and Susie Bright expound on lesbianism and oppression; pro-choice advocates Suzy Kerr and Dianne Malley describe their struggles for reproductive rights.”

Interviews with Kathy Acker, Susie Bright, Wanda Coleman, Valie Export, Karen Finley, Diamanda Galás, Bell Hooks, Holly Hughes, Lydia Lunch, Kerr & Malley, Linda Montano, Avital Ronell, Sapphire, Carolee Schneemann, and Annie Sprinkle.

The magazine was later translated into German, Chinese and Japanese.

Edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale
Publisher Re/Search, San Francisco, 1991
239 pages

Publisher
WorldCat

PDF (138 MB)