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Creator:
Warner, Marina, 1946–
Title(s):
Helen Chadwick : The oval court / Marina Warner.
Additional Title(s):
Oval court
Published/Created:
London : Afterall Books, 2022.
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press
Physical Description:
106 pages : color illustrations ; 21 cm.
Holdings:
Reference Library
NJ18.C3488 W37 2022 (LC)
Accessible in the Reference Library [Hours]
Note: Please contact the Reference Library to schedule an appointment [Email ycba.reference@yale.edu]

Classification:
Books
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references.
In 1986 the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London showed a new commission by the artist Helen Chadwick (1954-1996). What Chadwick conceived for the ICA exhibition explored her characteristic themes--the female body (her own), the aesthetics of pleasure, the material variety and wonder of phenomena--but took them in a new, flamboyant direction. In this illustrated volume, Marina Warner examines one part of Chadwick's installation, The Oval Court. This work was erotic, playful, and fierce; it showed imaginative ambition on an exceptional scale and a unique, piquant sensibility, both raunchy and delicate. Despite the work's recognition as a feminist monument of rare intensity, it has rarely been shown or discussed since the author's catalogue essay for the original exhibition. Warner here reconsiders Chadwick's influence as an artist who helped to shift conventional aesthetics and transvalue despised, even abominated forms. Exploring the work's richly layered composition in light of intervening years, Warner shows how Chadwick's imagination has shaped many artists' ideas and ethics, and emboldened their adventures with materials.
Subject Terms:
Artists -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Artists.
Chadwick, Helen -- Criticism and interpretation.
Chadwick, Helen.
Chadwick, Helen. Oval court.
Great Britain.
Installations (Art)
Installations (Art) -- 20th century.
Form/Genre:
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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