Subverting stereotypical images of women, a new generation of feminist artists is remaking the pin-up, much as Annie Sprinkle, Cindy Sherman, and others did in the 1970s and 1980s. As shocking as contemporary feminist pin-ups are intended to be, perhaps more surprising is that the pin-up has been appropriated by women for their own empowerment since its inception more than a century ago. Pin-Up Grrrls tells the history of the pin-up from its birth, revealing how its development is intimately connected to the history of feminism. Maria Elena Buszek documents the genre’s 150-year history with more than 100 illustrations, many never before published.Beginning with the pin-up’s origins in mid-nineteenth-century carte-de-visite photographs of burlesque performers, Buszek explores how female sex symbols, including Adah Isaacs Menken and Lydia Thompson, fought to exert control over their own images. Buszek analyzes the evolution of the pin-up through the advent of the New Woman, the suffrage movement, fanzine photographs of early film stars, the Varga Girl illustrations that appeared in Esquire during World War II, the early years of Playboy magazine, and the recent revival of the genre in appropriations by third-wave feminist artists. A fascinating combination of art history and cultural history, Pin-Up Grrrls is the story of how women have publicly defined and represented their sexuality since the 1860s.

Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture

Arts & Photography

Buszek, Maria Elena

History & Criticism

Duke University Press Books

Subverting stereotypical images of women, a new generation of feminist artists is remaking the pin-up, much as Annie Sprinkle, Cindy Sherman, and others did in the 1970s and 1980s. As shocking as contemporary feminist pin-ups are intended to be, perhaps more surprising is that the pin-up has been appropriated by women for their own empowerment since its inception more than a century ago. Pin-Up Grrrls tells the history of the pin-up from its birth, revealing how its development is intimately connected to the history of feminism. Maria Elena Buszek documents the genre’s 150-year history with more than 100 illustrations, many never before published.
Beginning with the pin-up’s origins in mid-nineteenth-century carte-de-visite photographs of burlesque performers, Buszek explores how female sex symbols, including Adah Isaacs Menken and Lydia Thompson, fought to exert control over their own images. Buszek analyzes the evolution of the pin-up through the advent of the New Woman, the suffrage movement, fanzine photographs of early film stars, the Varga Girl illustrations that appeared in Esquire during World War II, the early years of Playboy magazine, and the recent revival of the genre in appropriations by third-wave feminist artists. A fascinating combination of art history and cultural history, Pin-Up Grrrls is the story of how women have publicly defined and represented their sexuality since the 1860s.

This publication complements the exhibition Andrea Bowers: #sweetjane at the Pomona College Museum of Art and the Pitzer College Art Galleries and represents an overview of the artist's work since 2006. It highlights Bowers' (born 1965) commitment to merging art and social activism with a focus on political and environmental issues. Grounded in the legacy of feminist art, Bowers' socially engaged work combines a hyper-conceptual and formalist approach with raw and uncompromising content. This publication weaves together multiple strands of the artist's practice to foreground her incisive vision, activism and dedication to social justice. Andrea Bowers: #sweetjane, the exhibition of the Los Angeles-based artist's most recent body of work, examined the 2012 Steubenville, Ohio, high-school rape case, the subsequent trial and media and activist reactions.

Andrea Bowers

Kalb, Peter

Individual Artists

Pomona College Museum of Art

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Books by Buszek, Maria Elena

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Buszek, Maria Elena. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture

Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture

Andrea Bowers