Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero (International Library of Modern and Contemporary Art)

Between 1966 and 1976, American artist Nancy Spero completed some of her most aggressively political work. Made at a time when Spero was a key member of the anti-war and feminist arts-activism that burgeoned in the New York art world during the period, her works demonstrate a violent and bodily rejection of injustice. Essential to this was a focus on pain. From the War Series (1966–1970) through the Artaud Paintings (1970–71), Codex Artaud (1971–2) and Torture of Women (1974–6), pain, both internal and external, was imagined in multiple forms. With an evolving attention to social violence, alienation and physical suffering, pain became metaphoric of the experience of women living under patriarchy, an amorphous but still profoundly disabling sensation that attacks both body and mind. Exemplary of the way in which artists were using metaphors of sensation and emotion in their work as part of the anti-Vietnam war and feminist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spero’s practice seeks to represent how politics feels. Considering the ways in which anti-war and feminist art used emotion as a means to persuade and protest, Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero examines the history of this crucial decade in American art politics through close attention to Spero’s practice. Situating her work amongst the activism that defined the era, this book examines the ways in which sensation and emotion became political weapons for a generation of artists seeking to oppose patriarchy and war. Between 1966 and 1976, American artist Nancy Spero completed some of her most aggressively political work. Made at a time when Spero was a key member of the anti-war and feminist arts-activism that burgeoned in the New York art world during the period, her works demonstrate a violent and bodily rejection of injustice. Essential to this was a focus on pain. From the War Series (1966–1970) through the Artaud Paintings (1970–71), Codex Artaud (1971–2), and Torture of Women (1974–6), pain, both internal and external, was imagined in multiple forms. With an evolving attention to social violence, alienation and physical suffering, pain became metaphoric of the experience of women living under patriarchy, an amorphous but still profoundly disabling sensation that attacks both body and mind. Exemplary of the way in which artists were using metaphors of sensation and emotion in their work as part of the anti-Vietnam war and feminist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spero’s practice acts as a model of a practice that seeks to represent how politics feels. Considering the ways in which anti-war and feminist art used emotion as a means to persuade and protest, Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero examines the history of this crucial decade in American art politics through close attention to Spero’s practice. Situating her work amongst the activism that defined the era, this book examines the ways in which sensation and emotion became political weapons for a generation of artists seeking to oppose patriarchy and war. "Between 1966 and 1976, American artist Nancy Spero completed some of her most aggressively political work. Made at a time when Spero was a key member of the anti-war and feminist arts-activism that burgeoned in the New York art world during the period, her works demonstrate a violent and bodily rejection of injustice. Essential to this was a focus on pain. From the War Series (1966-1970) through the Artaud Paintings (1970-71), Codex Artaud (1971-2), and Torture of Women (1974-6), pain, both internal and external, was imagined in multiple forms. With an evolving attention to social violence, alienation and physical suffering, pain became metaphoric of the experience of women living under patriarchy, an amorphous but still profoundly disabling sensation that attacks both body and mind. Exemplary of the way in which artists were using metaphors of sensation and emotion in their work as part of the anti-Vietnam war and feminist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spero's practice acts as a model of a practice that seeks to represent how politics feels. Considering the ways in which anti-war and feminist art used emotion as a means to persuade and protest, Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero examines the history of this crucial decade in American art politics through close attention to Spero's practice. Situating her work amongst the activism that defined the era, this book examines the ways in which sensation and emotion became political weapons for a generation of artists seeking to oppose patriarchy and war."-- Provided by publisher Between 1966 and 1976, American artist Nancy Spero completed some of her most aggressively political work. Made at a time when Spero was a key member of the anti-war and feminist arts-activism that burgeoned in the New York art world during the period, her works demonstrate a violent and bodily rejection of injustice. Considering the ways in which anti-war and feminist art used emotion as a means to persuade and protest, Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art examines the history of this crucial decade in American art politics through close attention to Spero's practice. Situating her work amongst the activism that defined the era, this book examines the ways in which sensation and emotion became political weapons for a generation of artists seeking to oppose patriarchy and war. Exemplary of the way in which artists were using metaphors of sensation and emotion in their work as part of the anti-Vietnam war and feminist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spero's practice acts as a model for representing how politics feels. By exploring Spero's political engagement anew, this book offer a profound recontextualization of the important contribution that Spero made to Feminist thought, politics and art in the US. In the late 1960s and 1970s America was a maelstrom of violence and unrest. Protestors surged onto the streets and abroad the country was embroiled in Vietnam. This discontent sparked Nancy Spero's most blatantly political work and her pieces began to represent a wider rejection of American military aggression overseas and social injustice at home. Spero wanted to explore how politics felt and in this book, Rachel Warriner concludes that it was painful. Warriner devotes each chapter to a single work or series of works and traces how the concept of pain evolved through this period of Spero's oeuvre. From damaged bodies attacked by sexualised bombs in the War Series, to isolated and symbolic paper scrolls in Codex Artaud, Warriner argues that for Spero, pain was a metaphor that allowed emotion into politics and challenged contemporary narratives surrounding war and women. This is the first publication to consider Spero's specific activist context and suggests powerful new ways of understanding this increasingly important figure in twentieth-century art.