Parts of a Body House Book
Carolee Schneemann
1972
Parts of a Body House Book
Parts of a Body House Book
Fullscreen
PAUSE
00:00
Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive ...
Read more
Parts of a Body House Book
Carolee Schneemann
1972
Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [80 pages]
33 × 20.4 cm
Edition of 60; signed and numbered 4/60

Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive publications extend her performative scripts into the tactile and the “flippable”.


 


Influenced by Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy, Parts of a Body House was developed through two distinct editorial iterations. An initial, condensed version appeared in 1970 in Fantastic Architecture, published by Something Else Press, while a more expansive and materially textured version was published by Beau Geste Press in 1972.


 


Revolving around themes of gender, sexuality, and creativity, this mythopoetic feminist book assembles a profusion of original materials including: a comic strip derived from the artist's Fluxus Fluxorum performance, critical observations on Wilhelm Reich and Dusan Makavejev's soft-erotic film
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), notes and drawings related to her kinetic theater works, and a manifesto-script for Parts of a Body House (originally written in 1967). The book also incorporates traces of the body itself, including a tissue-paper insert blotted with menstrual blood.


 


By anchoring female corporeality to the architectural metaphor of the house, Schneemann transforms the traditionally domestic space into a site of liberation. The book thus becomes an embodied object that challenges stereotypical representations of women by making the female body both its subject and its material.

Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [80 pages]
33 × 20.4 cm
Edition of 60; signed and numbered 4/60

Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive publications extend her performative scripts into the tactile and the “flippable”.

 

Influenced by Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy, Parts of a Body House was developed through two distinct editorial iterations. An initial, condensed version appeared in 1970 in Fantastic Architecture, published by Something Else Press, while a more expansive and materially textured version was published by Beau Geste Press in 1972.

 

Revolving around themes of gender, sexuality, and creativity, this mythopoetic feminist book assembles a profusion of original materials including: a comic strip derived from the artist's Fluxus Fluxorum performance, critical observations on Wilhelm Reich and Dusan Makavejev's soft-erotic film W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), notes and drawings related to her kinetic theater works, and a manifesto-script for Parts of a Body House (originally written in 1967). The book also incorporates traces of the body itself, including a tissue-paper insert blotted with menstrual blood.

 

By anchoring female corporeality to the architectural metaphor of the house, Schneemann transforms the traditionally domestic space into a site of liberation. The book thus becomes an embodied object that challenges stereotypical representations of women by making the female body both its subject and its material.

DESCRIPTION

Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive publications extend her performative scripts into the tactile and the “flippable”.

 

Influenced by Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy, Parts of a Body House was developed through two distinct editorial iterations. An initial, condensed version appeared in 1970 in Fantastic Architecture, published by Something Else Press, while a more expansive and materially textured version was published by Beau Geste Press in 1972.

 

Revolving around themes of gender, sexuality, and creativity, this mythopoetic feminist book assembles a profusion of original materials including: a comic strip derived from the artist's Fluxus Fluxorum performance, critical observations on Wilhelm Reich and Dusan Makavejev's soft-erotic film W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), notes and drawings related to her kinetic theater works, and a manifesto-script for Parts of a Body House (originally written in 1967). The book also incorporates traces of the body itself, including a tissue-paper insert blotted with menstrual blood.

 

By anchoring female corporeality to the architectural metaphor of the house, Schneemann transforms the traditionally domestic space into a site of liberation. The book thus becomes an embodied object that challenges stereotypical representations of women by making the female body both its subject and its material.

Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [80 pages]
33 × 20.4 cm
Edition of 60; signed and numbered 4/60

Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive publications extend her performative scripts into the tactile and the “flippable”.

 

Influenced by Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy, Parts of a Body House was developed through two distinct editorial iterations. An initial, condensed version appeared in 1970 in Fantastic Architecture, published by Something Else Press, while a more expansive and materially textured version was published by Beau Geste Press in 1972.

 

Revolving around themes of gender, sexuality, and creativity, this mythopoetic feminist book assembles a profusion of original materials including: a comic strip derived from the artist's Fluxus Fluxorum performance, critical observations on Wilhelm Reich and Dusan Makavejev's soft-erotic film W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), notes and drawings related to her kinetic theater works, and a manifesto-script for Parts of a Body House (originally written in 1967). The book also incorporates traces of the body itself, including a tissue-paper insert blotted with menstrual blood.

 

By anchoring female corporeality to the architectural metaphor of the house, Schneemann transforms the traditionally domestic space into a site of liberation. The book thus becomes an embodied object that challenges stereotypical representations of women by making the female body both its subject and its material.

MORE BOOKS

Carolee Schneemann’s production of artists’ books is relatively limited yet significant, comprising Parts of a Body House Book (1972), Cézanne, She Was a Great Painter (1975), and Vulva’s Morphia (2002), among other works. These transgressive publications extend her performative scripts into the tactile and the “flippable”.

 

Influenced by Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy, Parts of a Body House was developed through two distinct editorial iterations. An initial, condensed version appeared in 1970 in Fantastic Architecture, published by Something Else Press, while a more expansive and materially textured version was published by Beau Geste Press in 1972.

 

Revolving around themes of gender, sexuality, and creativity, this mythopoetic feminist book assembles a profusion of original materials including: a comic strip derived from the artist's Fluxus Fluxorum performance, critical observations on Wilhelm Reich and Dusan Makavejev's soft-erotic film W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), notes and drawings related to her kinetic theater works, and a manifesto-script for Parts of a Body House (originally written in 1967). The book also incorporates traces of the body itself, including a tissue-paper insert blotted with menstrual blood.

 

By anchoring female corporeality to the architectural metaphor of the house, Schneemann transforms the traditionally domestic space into a site of liberation. The book thus becomes an embodied object that challenges stereotypical representations of women by making the female body both its subject and its material.

MORE BOOKS