Book dossier

Feminism and contemporary art

by Jo Anna Isaak

The impact of women artists on the contemporary art movement has resulted in 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.Jo Anna Isaac looks the work of a diverse range of artists from the United States, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and Canada. She discusses the work of such women as Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, Elaine Reichek, Jeanne Silverthorne, Mary Kelly, Lorna Simpson, Hannah Wilke, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith and the Guerilla 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 artistsRefuting 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.