Lesbian Art in America

A Contemporary History

Harmony Hammond

It is no surprise to see a photograph by Catherine Opie on the front of this handsome and groundbreaking volume on lesbian art. Opie is now represented in most of the best public collections in America, and her inclusion, along with the current rise of Nicole Eisenman, suggests that the market for specifically lesbian imagery (as opposed to erotica, which has always had an audience) has finally widened to include the great art institutions that still set the canon for contemporary art. Although the text of Harmony Hammond’s wonderfully rich book is a little too dense for casual consumption, the history she offers–especially of the middle decade represented here, the 1980s, with its porn wars and the emergence of both postmodernism and postfeminism alongside a remarkable boom in the art market–can be found nowhere else, and certainly not in so graceful a form, lavishly illustrated and perceptively annotated. –Regina Marler

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From Publishers Weekly

Lesbians have an uneasy relationship with the art world establishment. When painter Jody Pinto wanted her work to appear in the 1978 ‘Lesbian Show,’ her art dealer informed her that ‘if she exhibited as a lesbian, she could say good-bye to the gallery’s representation of her work.’ More than another decade passed before artists openly celebrated their sexual identities in a Houston show entitled ‘Out! Voices from a Queer Nation.’ Hammond, an art teacher and cofounder of Heresies Magazine as well as an artist, documents three decades of post-Stonewall efforts to find acceptance and recognition for painting, sculpture, mixed media and photography by lesbian women. The author contends that ‘lesbian art is not a stylistic movement but rather, in its simplest definition, art that comes out of a feminist consciousness’; she then shapes her inquiry to those who fit her definition. Hammond combines a historical overview of art shows, conferences and publications with written portraits of, and interviews with, representative artists from diverse backgrounds. Internationally recognized artists like Kate Millett, Louise Fishman and Catherine Opie rub elbows with those known primarily within political circles. While the writing offers little in the way of formal analysis, the collection itself is a handsome tribute to lesbian creativity. Illus. (Aug.)

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Details

ISBN	847822486
Genre	Arts & Photography
Copyright Date	2000
Publication Date	02-Sep-00
Publisher	Rizzoli
Format	Hardcover
No. of Pages	208
Language	English
Rating	NotRated
BookID	6765

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Lesbian Art in America by Harmony Hammond