Books: Cutting the Male Canon to Pieces

Books

August 1, 2022 • View in browser

Justine Kurland Cuts the Male Canon to Pieces

In SCUMB Manifesto, Kurland slices up her collection of photo books by men to create collages that subvert the male gaze. | Julia Curl

SCUMB Manifesto is a direct, violent challenge to the status quo. It is also a nuanced, exquisitely crafted work of art. The book catalogues Kurland’s methodical dissection of her own male-dominated library of photo books following a provocative conversation with her gallerist and partner, Kim Bourus.

Support Hyperallergic's independent journalism

Become a member today to help keep our reporting and criticism free and accessible to all.

CREATING & CORRESPONDENCE

When a Woman Chooses Art Over All Else

Both Celia Paul and Gwen John oriented their lives around being artists and were diverted by romantic entanglements with famous male artists that reduced them to muses. Was it worth it? | Sophia Stweart

Letters to Gwen John paints equally detailed and revealing portraits of Paul and John. To place their two lives in dialogue, Paul elegantly shifts between biographical, diaristic, and epistolary modes.

The Patrons Who Sustained Sophie Taeuber-Arp

The letters between Taeuber-Arp and her patroness, Annie Müller-Widmann, show the usually invisible tending that goes into an artist-patron relationship. | Karen Chernick

God Just Wants Us to Love Her Back

In a new graphic novel, author and cartoonist Liana Finck recasts the famously vengeful and masculine biblical God as an insecure and emotional female deity. | Sarah Rose Sharp

MORE FROM HYPERALLERGIC

The Iranian Poet Who Became an American Action Painter

A new book introduces two Manoucher Yektais: the stateless, anti-historical Modernist painter and the poet writing narrative verse exclusively in Farsi. | Tim Keane

Its contributors wrestle with counterproductive art historical labels while setting the record straight about the Iranian-American poet and painter who won critical acclaim among New York’s avant-garde of the 1950s — Harold Rosenberg was a fan, as was Mark Rothko — before Yektai slid out of favor, even as he continued to write poetry and paint well into this century.

New Book Reveals the British Security Service’s Surveillance of Major Artists

Red List lists a vast range of painters, sculptors, filmmakers, writers, and academics who were tracked by the MI5 for their perceived political affiliations. | Billy Anania

How Has Gandhi Influenced Artists?

Gandhi was an excellent mass communicator who created rich symbolic value through his persona, gestures, and actions — all of which translated into commanding visuals. | Anindya Sen