KIRKUS REVIEW

A potent study of feminist art and activism of the 1970s.

Art in America contributing editor Princenthal (Art Writing/School of Visual Arts; Agnes Martin: Her Life and Art, 2015, etc.) provides a riveting analysis that unfolds alongside an introduction to feminist conversations of the era. Clearly grasping the scope and complexity of her subject, the author contextualizes the stumbles and stamina of feminism, addressing objectification and exploitation while focusing on artists’ pivotal acts of defiance, which brought heightened awareness to taboo or underdiscussed topics. Examining Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece, Ana Mendieta’s haunting installations, Valie EXPORT’s Action Pants: Genital Panic, and other projects, Princenthal shows how much of the art in this milieu shocked audiences with challenging notions of culpability and consent. The author also exposes diverse responses to violence that often inverted assumptions about spectatorship, participation, and victimhood by inviting audiences to become witnesses. Looking at long-running performance pieces like Adrian Piper’s Mythic Being and Lynn Hershman Leeson’s Roberta Breitmore series, Princenthal explores how art handled both the performativity of gender and the tension between vulnerability and violence. The author’s thorough handling of pieces like Nancy Spero’s epic Torture of Women, Suzanna Lacy’s Three Weeks in May, and others highlight the potency of the work, and she handles the racialization of sexual violence with acuity. Paying attention to the groundbreaking work of artists giving voice to sexual violence, Princenthal plainly establishes art’s significant contributions to social change movements. “In the spectrum of dramatic injury—of harm organized for maximum emotional as well as physical impact—sexual violence occupies a uniquely potent, and unstable, place.” The author’s layered treatment of artistic influences, trends,

A concise and vital view of art and social change.