Rethinking Art's Histories Counterpractice

This groundbreaking book highlights a generation of women who made art as a way of defining a culture of experimental thought and practice, against the backdrop of the French women’s movement or Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (1970–81) Counterpractice highlights a generation of women whose art defined the culture of experimental thought and practice promoted by the French women’s movement. Establishing a conversation with some of the most exciting thinkers to emerge from France in the 1970s – Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva – the book positions women artists in the context of male trends in French art, while simultaneously viewing them alongside contemporaries from Europe and the United States. This approach forces a timely reconsideration of the full spectrum of revolutionary practices by women in the years following the events of May ’68. Featuring over 200 illustrations and extensive excerpts from rare French archival materials, Counterpractice will appeal to students and scholars of art, French, and gender studies, as well as general readers interested in this remarkable period of feminist history. It includes a foreword by Grisela Pollock. Counterpractice highlights a generation of women who used art to define a culture of experimental thought and practice during the period of the French women’s movement or Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (1970–81). It considers women’s art in relation to some of the most exciting thinkers to have emerged from the French literature and philosophy of the 1970s – Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva – forcing a timely reconsideration of the full spectrum of revolutionary practices by women in the years following the events of May ’68. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 images, the book also features an illuminating foreword by art historian Griselda Pollock.