Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies - Hardcover

Neumaier, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1566393310 ISBN 13: 9781566393317

Publisher: Temple University Press, 1995

Synopsis

Concern about how women are represented, despite varied and often conflicting conceptions of feminism, is the underlying force in this collection. Eight critical essays grounded in feminist analysis explore the different issues that arise in these artists' visual representations, including social space, family life, child care, work, food, romance, sexuality, advertising, and consumer culture. They are feminist critics looking at feminist art, an act Diane Neumaier argues happens all too rarely as feminist critics have in the past busied themselves with critiquing dominant culture.
Together these artworks and essays explore the dynamics of visual images and ideology, including expressions and interpretations of autobiographical photographic projects, self-representation of women's bodies, conflicting identities, and the relationship between photographer and photographed.

About this title

About the Author

Diane Neumaier is Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

From the Inside Flap

"Reframings makes a tremendous contribution to the field of photography, art, and feminist theory. There is a definite need to reflect on the representation of women through the eyes of feminist artists and critics and probe issues in new and provocative ways-this book does just that. The multiple perspectives and voices of these women ensure an incredibly rich and diverse analysis of what is 'American' and what is 'feminism.'" Constance Wolf, Associate Director, Whitney Museum of American Art

"This path breaking book unmasks a key artist movement long neglected by the photography establishment: the canonbusting contribution of feminist photographers over the past decade. Besides providing a comprehensive look at the seldom seen work of over 30 artists, this volume constitutes a major intervention into the discourse of photography criticism. Diane Neumaier and her stellar cast of critics and artists supply the missing pieces in the puzzle of postmodernism."

Brian Wallis, contributing editor, Art in America

"This is an ambitious, exceptional book in its scope, breadth, and inclusiveness.... Neumaier does not shy away from the difficult questions that conflicting interpretations present. Instead she embraces a diversity of opinion and, at times, conflicting points of view to explore a wide range of American feminist issues and experiences." Choice

"Providing visibility to feminist photographers and theorists, and emphasizing the interrelation of the two, Reframings expands the parameters of feminist discourse, while at the same time collecting a canon to which scholars might refer in the future." afterimage

Reviews

Some of the 45 women artists presented here are well known (e.g., Nan Goldin, Susan Meiselas, Anne Noggle, Cindy Sherman, and Carrie Mac Weems), but most of them will be new to followers of contemporary photography. Most of the essayists will be new as well, though Lucy R. Lippard, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, and Deborah Willis Braithwaite are included. The book is organized according to feminist issues or themes: sexuality and body image, family and domestic life, advertising and consumerism, cultural and sexual identities, women in the workforce, and the relationship between photographer and subject (sometimes the same person). A common belief among the contributors is that photographic images are inherently political and that too many photographs of women "frame" them as idealized, impersonal, or weak. These photographers attempt to "reframe" women in positions of power and authority or to present images that aim to shock us into confronting the reality of women's roles in society. While the quality of the writing and reproductions is uneven, this book would be a valuable addition to collections of contemporary photography or women's studies.?Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives, Brooklyn
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1566393310
• ISBN 13: 9781566393317
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 319