17.2: Background Readings
- Page ID
- 172673
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Figure \(17.2.1\): Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1964, Performance.
Some background readings for teachers that are both foundational feminist art historical texts and address various applications of the topic outlined above (women artists, art historical value judgements, subtle inscriptions of power and difference on contemporary artist biographies) include:
Linda Nochlin, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” ARTnews (January 1971), 22–39, 67–71.
Griselda Pollock, “Feminist Interventions in the Histories of Art” (1988), in Eric Fernie, ed., Art History and Its Methods (London: Phaidon Press, 1995), 296–313.
Anna Chave, “Minimalism and the Rhetoric of Power,” Arts 64:5 (January 1990), 44–63.
If the survey text book includes a section on feminist art, you can include that for students’ background reading, though it is likely to be quite short. As preparation for class discussion, the Brooklyn Museum’s Curatorial Overview for Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party gives not only great background on the work, but a good overview of the art context from which it emerged, as well as numerous feminist strategies used in this and other feminist works over the decades. If this is the reading assignment, the lecture section on The Dinner Party could be redesigned so that students are responsible for presenting on specific ideas (historical revisionism, women’s work, “central core” imagery, etc.). For a shorter and more general introduction, Blake Gopnik’s review of the exhibition WACK! is a lively polemic, and can be used to prompt debate or inspire “review-style” writing assignments.
Video resources fall into two categories—about artists’ practices, like Art21, which features feminist-associated artists such as Nancy Spero, Kara Walker, and Kiki Smith, and museum-produced videos, like this great interview with Wangechi Mutu; as well as the wealth of original performance art and video works available on YouTube and UbuWeb. (Another incredible video resource, the uncut interviews used for !Women Art Revolution, are hosted by Stanford and perfect for crafting a class report/research assignment.)
Most concise and great for a pre-class overview might be the Tate’s recently posted “Where are the Women?” featuring Girls star and aspiring painter Jemima Kirke. At the end of the video, she raises the issue of “revisionist art history,” noting that how best to address women’s erasure from history is still hotly debated. This is a debate that you could choose to have at the end of class or via a written response afterward.