Research Catalog

Title

Radical virtuosity : Ana Mendieta and the Black Atlantic / Genevieve Hyacinthe.

Author

Hyacinthe, Genevieve

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2019]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 333 pages : illustrations (mostly color); 24 cm

Summary

The artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) is remembered as the creator of powerful works expressing a vibrant and unflinching second-wave feminist sensibility. In Radical Virtuosity, art historian Genevieve Hyacinthe offers a new view of Mendieta, connecting her innovative artwork to the art, cultural aesthetics and concerns, feminisms, and sociopolitical messages of the black Atlantic. Mendieta left Cuba as a preteen, fleeing the Castro regime, and spent years in U.S. foster care. Her sense of exile, Hyacinthe argues, colors her work. Hyacinthe examines the development of Mendieta's performative artworks-particularly the Silueta series (1973-1985), which documented the silhouette of her body in the earth over time (a series "without end," Mendieta said)-and argues that these works were shaped by Mendieta's appropriation and reimagining of Afro-Cuban ritual. Mendieta's effort to create works that invited audience participation, Hyacinthe says, signals her interest in forging connections with the marginalized, particularly those of the black Atlantic and Global South. Hyacinthe describes the "counter entropy" of Mendieta's small-scale earthworks (contrasting them with more massive works created by Robert Smithson and other male artists); considers the resonance of Mendieta's work with the contemporary practices of black Atlantic female artists including Wangechi Mutu, Renee Green, and Damali Abrams; and connects Mendieta's artistic and political expressions to black Atlantic feminisms of such popular artists as Princess Nokia.

Subjects

• Mendieta, Ana, 1948-1985
• Cultural fusion and the arts
• Black author
• Performance art > Themes, motives
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Mendieta, Ana, 1948-1985 > Criticism and interpretation
• Cultural fusion and the arts > Pictorial works
• African diaspora in art > Pictorial works

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

Sc E 20-87

ISBN

• 9780262042703
• 0262042703

LCCN

2018053940

OCLC

1073036111

Author

Hyacinthe, Genevieve, author.

Title

Radical virtuosity : Ana Mendieta and the Black Atlantic / Genevieve Hyacinthe.

Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2019]

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc E 20-87