ITALIAN-ARGENTINE ARTIST LEONOR FINI (1907-1996) CAN BE SEEN AS THE
ORIGINAL ARTIST-CELEBRITY; HER SELF-MYTHOLOGIZATION WAS PROMULGATED BY
SOME OF THE 20TH CENTURY'S MOST PROMINENT PHOTOGRAPHERS, FROM HENRI
CARTIER-BRESSON TO DORA MAAR.
Exploring her self-fashioning and dressing-up practices in light of
recent theories of performativity, this book highlights how Fini's
extension of artistic creative practices, from painted artworks to her
self-creation through costumes, masks and fashion, allowed her to
become a living artwork to be created and recreated on daily basis.
Applying a multisensory methodology, the book explores Fini's personal
theatricality, photographic self-portraits and self-transformative,
genderbending, transgressive dressing-up games in relation to
surrealist practices, showcasing the hybrid identities that made up
Fini's overall character.
In three thematic sections - exploring her theatrical performances at
balls, her self-fashioning in photographic and painted portraits, and
her becoming-other through dressing-up - the book charts the artist's
personal and creative development, the interaction between her
paintings and self-creation and her increasing self-empowerment
through dressing-up. With over 100 visually-striking colour
illustrations, the book analyses and highlights some of Fini's most
outstanding performances together with her paintings and
self-portraits. Kollnitz argues that the way these identities were
represented in the celebrity press compromised Fini's critical
reception as an artist, and how more broadly patriarchal
objectification of fashionable women artists has the potential to
jeopardise their professional agency. In contrast, this book showcases
Fini's self-fashioning as a tool of artistic and personal empowerment
as well as an intrinsic part of her art production. In doing so, the
book gives voice to the significance of self-mythologisation for
artists to whom identity is fluid and plural.
Les mer
Theatrical Self-Performances between Art and Life
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781350212602
Publisert
2025
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Bloomsbury UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter