Feminism and Contemporary Art: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Laughter

Description

The impact of women artists on the contemporary art movement has allowed a powerful and innovative feminist reworking of traditional approaches to the theory and history of art. Feminism and Contemporary Art discusses the work of individual women artists within the context of the wider social, physical and political world. Issak looks at the work of a diverse rangeof artists from the United States, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and Canada. She discusses the work of such women ad Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, Elaine Reichek, Jeanne Silverthorne, Mary Kelly, Lorna Simpson and the Guerrilla Girls. In an original case study of art production in a non-capitalist context, Jo Anna Isaak examines a range of work by twentieth-century Soviet women artists. Refuting the notion that there is a specifically female way of creating art, and dubious of any generalizing notion of "feminist art practices", Isaak nevertheless argues that contemporary art under the influence of feminism is providing the momentum for a comic critique of key assumptions about art, art history, and the role of the artist. Richly illustrated with over one hundred photographs, paintings and images by women artists this work provides a provocative and valuable account of the diversity and revolutionary potential of women's art practice.

The editors' twofold goal of tying theoretical discussions to actual works of art in clear and accessible terminology is successfully realized in Isaak's book.