Table Of ContentCounterpractice
SERIES EDITORS
Amelia G. Jones, Marsha Meskimmon
Rethinking Art’s Histories aims to open out art history from its most basic structures
by foregrounding work that challenges the conventional periodisation and
geographical subfields of traditional art history, and addressing a wide range of
visual cultural forms from the early modern period to the present.
These books will acknowledge the impact of recent scholarship on our
understanding of the complex temporalities and cartographies that have emerged
through centuries of world-wide trade, political colonisation and the diasporic
movement of people and ideas across national and continental borders.
To buy or to find out more about the books currently available in this series, please
go to: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/rethinking-arts-histories/
Counterpractice
Psychoanalysis, politics and the art of French feminism
Rakhee Balaram
Manchester University Press
Copyright © Rakhee Balaram 2021
The right of Rakhee Balaram to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 5261 2516 3 hardback
First published 2021
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
external or any third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
Cover:
Colette, Homage to Delacroix, 1970,
photograph of private performance
in New York © Colette the Artist
Cover design:
Abbey Akanbi, Manchester University Press
Typeset
by New Best-set Typesetters Ltd
Contents
List of illustrations page vi
Acknowledgments xxiii
Foreword by Griselda Pollock xxv
Preface: the glissade xxx
Introduction 1
1
On the streets: from May ’68 to the MLF 42
2
The MLF 1970s 83
3
Libération-création: MLF, women artists and the
militant body 146
4
Instase: Psychanalyse et Politique and the spaces of
women’s art 215
5
Women’s groups and collective art practices 275
6
Hard politics, soft art: subversive practices from
écriture féminine to soft art 354
Conclusion: La révolution accomplie? Some legacies of
women’s art in 1970s France 419
Index 426
Illustrations
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyright mate-
rial, and the publisher will be pleased to be informed of any errors and omis-
sions for correction in future editions.
Plates
1 R. Brahimi, ‘des identités plurielles pour une société plurielle’
(1988), produced by the group Expressions Maghrébines au
féminin for a conference in 1991.
2 Sonia Delaunay, UNESCO poster, 1975. Featured Delaunay’s
Grande icône, c. 1970. Lithograph.
3 Cover of UNESCO magazine Le courrier, 1975. Featured Mithila
painting.
4 Hermine Freed, Art Herstory, 1974. (Image courtesy of Video
Data Bank, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, www.vdb.org.
© 2020 Hermine Freed.)
5 Nil Yalter, La Femme sans tête ou la Danse du ventre, 1974. Video.
(© 2020 Nil Yalter.)
6 Nous sommes le pouvoir, May ’68 poster. Atelier Populaire de
l’Ex-Atelier des Beaux-Arts, Paris.
7 Michèle Katz (attributed), Vigilance: Indicateurs: ‘Civiques’ May
’68 poster. (© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP,
Paris.)
8 Gina Pane, Pierres déplacées, July 1968. Performance. Valley of
Orco, Italy. (Image courtesy of Max Pescio and Osart Gallery,
Milano. © 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP,
Paris.)
9 Hélène de Beauvoir, Bons pavés, 1968. Oil on canvas. (Image
courtesy of Galerie Hammer, Regensburg.)
10 Charlotte Calmis, Mai 1968. c. 1970. Mixed media collage. (Image
courtesy of Marie-Jo Bonnet. Collection Association Charlotte
Calmis.)
List of illustrations vii
11a Simone Lacour, Brûlant velum, 1969. Shaped canvas. Paris.
116 × 89 cm. (Image courtesy of Guy Obijn. © 2020 Artists
Rights Society, New York / SABAM, Brussels.)
11b Simone Lacour, Le Bilingue, 1969. Aluminum on canvas. Paris.
116 × 70 cm. (Image courtesy of Guy Obijn. © 2020 Artists
Rights Society, New York / SABAM, Brussels.)
12 Juliet Berto, still from Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise, 1967.
13 Henri Cueco, La rue, 1968. From the series ‘Les hommes rouges’.
Glycerophthalic paint on canvas. (Image courtesy of Le MASC
Les Sables d’Olonne. © 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York /
ADAGP, Paris.)
14 ‘Le pouvoir du con’, Le Torchon brûle, no. 2, 1972.
15 Hélène de Beauvoir, ‘S.O.S Femmes Alternative Alsace’, 1979.
(Image courtesy of Galerie Hammer, Regensburg.)
16 Michèle Katz, Duo de femmes, Chronique d’une femme mariée,
1974. (© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP,
Paris.)
17 Michèle Katz, Mâle désir d’un enfant, Chronique d’une femme
mariée, 1974. (© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP,
Paris.)
18 Cover of Le Torchon brûle, 1971.
19 Emma Santos, La femme rupture, 1979. Collage. (Image courtesy
of Collection Art Brut, Lausanne. Reproduced by permission of
Armelle Le Goff.)
20 Lea Lublin, Espace perspectif et désirs interdits d’Artemisia G.,
1979. Drawing with china ink, acrylic paint, 4 panels,
100 × 80 cm. (Image courtesy of Nicolas Lublin and Gallery 1
Mira Madrid.)
21 Alina Szapocznikow, Tumeurs, 1971–1972. Polyester resin,
fiberglass, paper, gauze. (Photo: Zachęta National Gallery of Art,
Warsaw, and Agencja Medium Sp. Z.O.O. © 2020 Artists Rights
Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
22 Raymonde Arcier, Héritage, les tricots de ma mère, 1972–1973.
Knitted wool. 3 meters. (Courtesy of the artist. © 2020
Raymonde Arcier.)
23 Raymonde Arcier, Ar(t)mure pour art(r)iste, 1981 (detail).
Crocheted brass. Weight 45 kilograms. (Photo: Rakhee Balaram.
© 2020 Raymonde Arcier.)
24 Galerie des femmes, exhibition catalogue cover, 1982. (© 1982
Éditions des femmes-Antoinette Fouque.)
25 Geneviève Asse, Ouverture de la nuit, 1973. Oil on canvas.
(© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
viii List of illustrations
26 Geneviève Claisse, Invariant rouge, 1973. Acrylic on canvas.
47.2 × 47.2 in. (Galerie Denise René, Paris. © 2020 Artists Rights
Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
27 Liliane Lijn, Tilt, 1969. Glass fiber and polyester resin, fluorescent
blue and green Perspex, motorized turntable, fluorescent light
tube. Height 33 cm × diameter 23 cm. (Photo courtesy of Richard
Wilding. © 2020 Liliane Lijn. All rights reserved. DACS, London
/ Artists Rights Society, New York.)
28 Sara Holt, Cône oblique, 1970. Polyester resin. 19 × 13 × 17 in.
(Artist’s collection. Photo courtesy Sara Holt. © 2020 Artists
Rights Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
29 Sara Holt, Trainée d’étoiles, 1978. Lubéron. Argentique. (Photo
courtesy Sara Holt. © 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York /
ADAGP, Paris.)
30 Pierrette Bloch, Sans titre, 1972. China ink and paper. (© 2020
Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
31 Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Bibliothèque en feu, 1974. Oil on
canvas. (Image courtesy of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum – Modern
Collection. Photo: Paulo Costa. © 2019 Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
32 Marie Raymond, J’ai tendu les cordes et je danse (Rimbaud), 1979.
Oil on canvas, 130 × 97 cm. (© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New
York / ADAGP, Paris.)
33 Anna-Eva Bergman, N°48–1971 Mur de glace, 1971. Acrylic,
modeling paste and metal leaves on canvas. 150 × 200 cm. (Photo:
Fondation Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes.
© 2020 Artists Rights Society, New York / ADAGP, Paris.)
34 Colette Bréger, Cover drawing of Sorcières, ‘Le sang’, no. 9, 1977.
(© Colette Bréger.)
35 Anne Saussois, Sans titre, 1978. Colored pencil on paper.
30 × 40 cm. (© 2020 Anne Saussois.)
36 Sabine Monirys, La traversée des apparences, c. 1976. Oil on
canvas. (Reproduced with the permission of Association Sabine
Monirys.)
37 Charlotte Calmis, Blessures de la lumière, 1970. Mixed media.
(Image courtesy of Marie-Jo Bonnet.)
38 Charlotte Calmis, La femme dans la cité, 1976. Collage. (Image
courtesy of Marie-Jo Bonnet. Collection Association Charlotte
Calmis.)
39 Lea Lublin, Fluvio Subtunal, 1969. Inflatable tunnel installation,
transparent plastic. Participatory art. Sorcières, no. 10, 1977, p. 48.
