Action/gesture/paint : women artists and global abstraction 1940-70 / editor, Laura Smith.

Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at Whitechapel Gallery, London, February 9-May 7, 2023; Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, June 3-October 22, 2023; and Kunsthalle Bielefeld, December 2, 2023-March 3, 2024.

Artists include: Mary Abbott, Etel Adnan, Maliheh Afnan, Ruth Armer, Gillian Ayres, Ida Barbarigo, Noemí Di Benedetto, Anna-Eva Bergman, Janice Biala, Bernice Bing, Sandra Blow, Dusti Bongé, Chinyee, Wook-kyung Choi, Jay DeFeo, Martha Edelheit, Amaranth Ehrenhalt, Asma Fayoumi, Lilly Fenichel, Perle Fine, Else Fischer-Hansen, Audrey Flack, Elna Fonnesbech-Sandberg, Juana Francés, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Gechtoff, Judith Godwin, Gloria Gómez Sánchez, Elsa Gramcko, Sarah Grilo, Grace Hartigan, Lilian Holt, Buffie Johnson, Yuki Katsura, Helen Khal, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Bice Lazzari, Lifang, Bertina Lopes, Margaret Mellis, Marta Minujín, Joan Mitchell, Aiko Miyawaki, Yolanda Mohalyi, Nasreen Mohamedi, Emiko Nakano, Lea Nikel, Tomie Ohtake, Fayga Ostrower, Mercedes Pardo, Charlotte Park, Betty Parsons, Pat Passlof, Alice Rahon, Carol Rama, Marie Raymond, Judit Reigl, Deborah Remington, Britta Ringvall, Erna Rosenstein, Behjat Sadr, Nadia Saikali, Zilia Sánchez, Fanny Sanín, Miriam Schapiro, Sarah Schumann, Ethel Schwabacher, Sonja Sekula, Toko Shinoda, Sylvia Snowden, Janet Sobel, Vivian Springford, Franciszka Themerson, Alma Thomas, Yvonne Thomas, Hedwig Thun, Nína Tryggvadóttir, Elsa Vaudrey, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Michael West.

Includes bibliographical references.

Directors' introduction / Bice Curiger & Gilane Tawadros & Christina Végh -- Between a rock and hard place / Griselda Pollock -- Arenas in which to act / Laura Smith -- Material, process, time / Elizabeth A. T. Smith -- Myth, symbol, ritual / Candy Stobbs -- Being, expression, empathy / Agustin Pérez Rubio -- Performance, gesture, rhythm / Joan M. Marter -- Environment, nature, perception / Iwona Blazwick.

"At a time when the world was processing the anxieties of the Second World War and navigating a backdrop of deeply conflicted political climates, artists began to express their concerns in a new form of art that embraced personal and political freedom. Ironically, the reach of this 'freedom' has been limited to the white, male, and Western perspective. The overlooked narrative of gestural abstraction is kaleidoscopic, broad in its geographical breadth, in its definition and, crucially, it is female. The book features over eighty artists including American artists Lee Krasner (1908-1984) and Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), alongside lesser-known figures such as Mozambican-Italian artist Bertina Lopes (1924-2012) and South Korean artist Wook-kyung Choi (1940-1985). Exhibition: Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (17.01. - 07.05.2023)."-- Provided by publisher.