Reading Art, Reading Irigaray

Feminist theorist Luce Irigaray's influential work in philosophy, gender, linguistics and psychoanalysis is now well established and widely discussed. Taught and read across a broad range of disciplines, the implications of this challenging body of work for art itself is as yet only implied, and rarely elucidated. In this much-needed book, Hilary Robinson brings it to a wider audience through a clear exploration of her central ideas and arguments. Crucially, it asks, if language is gendered, as Irigaray believes, and if art is a language, what are the ramifications for the visual "languages" employed by women? How do women artists work and express themselves through this work? Drawing out the implications of such issues as "the speculum", "mucous", masquerade, mimicry and the maternal in relation to the "language" of art, the book employs case-studies of well-known works by women artists including Louise Bourgeois, Rachel Whiteread, Bridget Riley and Jenny Saville.