The Artist's Body

The Artist's Body examines the role of the body in performance art and artistic practices from the 1960s to the present day. Through photographs, essays, and artist statements, this comprehensive volume documents how artists have used their physical forms as both medium and subject. The book provides historical context for body art's emergence during periods of social and political upheaval. It includes over 400 images and traces key developments in performance art, happenings, and body-centered works across multiple decades and cultural contexts. Critical essays by art historians Tracey Warr and Amelia Jones analyze the theoretical frameworks and cultural significance of these artistic practices. The volume covers topics like gender, identity, endurance, ritual, and the relationship between artist and audience. The collected works and commentary reveal how artists have challenged traditional boundaries between art and life by making their bodies sites of artistic expression. This documentation raises questions about physicality, presence, and the nature of artistic creation itself.

Readers appreciate this book as a comprehensive survey of performance art and body art from the 1960s-1990s. The thorough documentation and high-quality photographs received specific mention in multiple reviews. Readers highlighted: - Clear organization by themes rather than chronology - Inclusion of both well-known and obscure artists - Detailed analysis of the cultural context Common criticisms: - Text can be dense and academic - Some found the theoretical framework too complex - Limited coverage of non-Western artists Ratings: Goodreads: 4.14/5 (36 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (6 ratings) A graduate student reviewer noted: "The book provided an excellent foundation for understanding performance art history, though the writing style takes effort to parse." The low number of online reviews likely reflects its status as an academic art text rather than a general interest book.

Body Art/Performing the Subject by Amelia Jones This text examines performance art through theories of subjectivity, examining how artists use their bodies as both medium and subject to challenge traditional art boundaries.

The Body in Contemporary Art by Sally O'Reilly The book presents documentation and analysis of artists who use the human form as their primary medium from the 1960s to present day.

Performance: Live Art Since 1960 by RoseLee Goldberg This work chronicles the development of performance art through key artists, events, and movements that shaped the medium's evolution.

Body Art/Performing the Subject by Amelia Jones The text investigates body-centered artistic practices and their intersection with identity politics, feminism, and cultural theory.

Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979 by Paul Schimmel The book documents the relationship between performance art and object-making through historical examples and archival materials.

🎨 The book explores over 100 groundbreaking artists who used their own bodies as artistic mediums, including Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, and Chris Burden 📸 Many of the performance art pieces documented in the book were considered highly controversial when first performed, such as Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" (1964) where audience members were invited to cut off her clothing 🎓 Co-author Amelia Jones is recognized as one of the leading scholars in performance art history and helped establish body art as a legitimate field of academic study 📚 The book's comprehensive survey spans from the 1960s to the 1990s, showing how body art evolved from radical counter-culture statement to established art form 🖼️ Published as part of Phaidon's acclaimed "Themes and Movements" series, the book includes over 400 illustrations and photographs, many of which document performances that were only witnessed by small audiences in their original form