World Food Books

Self-portrait
by Carla Lonzi

2022, English
Softcover, 364 pages, 14.2 x 21.8 cm
Published by Divided Publishing / London

$46.00 - In stock -

Recorded and transcribed throughout the 1960s, Carla Lonzi’s Self-portrait ruptures the narration of post-war modern art in Italy and beyond. Artmaking struck Lonzi as an invitation to be together in a ‘humanly satisfying way’, and this experiment in art-historical writing is a testament to her belief. Lonzi abolishes the role of the critic, her own, seeking change over self-preservation by theorising against the act of theorising.

The life and work of Carla Lonzi (1931–1982) is inseparable from the cultural, political, and social history of Italy in the decades following the Second World War; she occupies a singular position, which today merits reevaluation. A reputed art critic of the 1960s artistic scene, both friend and collaborator of such figures as Carla Accardi, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, and Jannis Kounellis, she wrote “Autoportrait” in 1969, a “love letter” to the artists and to creation, but also a farewell chorus to art criticism and the art world. The following year she founded Rivolta Femminile, an active feminist collective, thus becoming the central figure of Italian feminism.

Interviews with Carla Accardi, Getulio Alviani, Enrico Castellani, Pietro Consagra, Luciano Fabro, Lucio Fontana, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Nigro, Guilio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Mimmo Rotella, Salvatore Scarpita, Guilio Turcato, Cy Twombly.

Afterword by Claire Fontaine.
Translated by Allison Grimaldi Donahue.

"Before she spurred everyone to spit on Hegel, Carla Lonzi arranged her Self-portrait in the form of a dialogue recorded with friends – artists – with whom she had been in conversation for years. She wanted to feel less alienated, to figure out a way for art to be a part of living, not a stupid contrivance to be consumed. Soon after the book was published, in order to continue to ‘live life in a creative way, not in obedience with the models that society proposes over and over’, she abandoned art criticism, but not art – and never life." —Bruce Hainley

“The volume underscores the genderedness of its genre. Yet, it also pokes holes in the enterprise of art criticism more broadly and proves original precisely in its author’s intermittent passivity...”—Frieze Magazine

The life and work of Carla Lonzi (1931–1982) is inseparable from the cultural, political, and social history of Italy in the decades following the Second World War; she occupies a singular position, which today merits reevaluation. A reputed art critic of the 1960s artistic scene, both friend and collaborator of such figures as Carla Accardi, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, and Jannis Kounellis, she wrote “Autoportrait” in 1969, a “love letter” to the artists and to creation, but also a farewell chorus to art criticism and the art world. The following year she founded Rivolta Femminile, an active feminist collective, thus

File under: Claire Fontaine Carlo Accardi Getulio Alviani Enrico Castellani Pietro Consagna Luciano Fabro Lucio Fontana Jannis Kounellis Mario Nigro Giulio Paolini Pino Pascali Mimmo Rotella Salvatore Scarpitta Giulio Turcato Cy Twombly Carla Lonzi Allison Grimaldi Donahue Claire Fontaine Divided Publishing / London Theory / Essay Feminism Art Arte Povera Arte Informale / Haute Pâte / Tachism Painting Sculpture / Installation

Art Povera
Conceptual, Actual or Impossible Art? Germano Celant (Ed.)

1969, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 240 pages, 21 x 22 cm
1st US Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Praeger Publishers Inc. / New York

$250.00 - Out of stock