Fragments From The Delta Of Venus [Hardcover]

Judy Chicago (Author), Anais Nin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

As a tribute to the legacy of her mentor, Chicago shares some of her memories of their encounters in her introduction to Fragments from the Delta of Venus, a collection of twenty artworks pairing Chicago’s sensuous watercolor images with extremely evocative phrases from Nin’s famed collection of stories. The book promises to be a breakthrough in the history of erotic art, which—for centuries—has belonged almost exclusively to male artists and a male audience. Fragments from the Delta of Venus might be said to be a continuation of Chicago and Nin’s earlier dialogue, illuminating, in both images and words, the powerful fantasies and desires of the female mind.

Fragments from the Delta of Venus will be released on Valentine’s Day, 2004, perfectly timed to warm your lover’s heart—and more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Iconic erotic writer Anaïs Nin wrote of feminist artist Judy Chicago in the seventh volume of her Diaries, “Our first meeting was very interesting. I was intimidated by [Judy’s] powerful personality. She was intimidated by the lady of the Diaries.... But what happened is that we immediately felt a tenderness and recognized that we needed each other.”

From this encounter, a personal friendship and professional alliance flowered and continued to bloom until Nin’s death in 1977. Nin, a feminist of the first wave, considered Chicago her “radical daughter.” Where Nin was graceful, Chicago was confrontational. Where Nin was evocative, Chicago was provocative. Yet both sought the same goal: freedom for female self-expression, unfettered by the constraints of patriarchal posturing. Their relationship—a dialogue between the early and latter halves of the twentieth century—helped Chicago transcend her internalized taboos and fully express her creative power.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 102 pages
• Publisher: powerHouse Books (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576871827
• ISBN-13: 978-1576871829
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,629,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Women's Studies > Feminist Theory
  • #51 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Arts & Photography > Art > Art History > Criticism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Images of Female Desire, July 17, 2005

By 

F. Orion Pozo "Orion Pozo" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fragments From The Delta Of Venus (Hardcover)

Fragments from The Delta of Venus is a collection of 20 watercolors by the famous feminist artist, Judy Chicago. The paintings were inspired by 20 fragments from the erotic short stories of Anais Nin published in the collection The Delta of Venus. These stories, written for a private collector of erotica in the 1940s, were published in 1974 at the height of both the Sexual and Feminist Revolutions.

Judy Chicago found short fragments, five to seven lines long, that she found "riveting" and they became the inspiration for these paintings that "articulate a feminine perspective on sex." The paintings depict genitalia and sexual activity, and use color and line to create an image of sexual excitement and passion.

Each painting is depicted on a page of its own, with the text from The Delta of Venus that inspired in on the facing page. These are preceded by a page that has the title of the story from which the text was taken. It is a very simple presentation with a list of the painting titles and the date of composition at the end of the book. The paintings were done over a three year period from 2001 - 2003.

At the beginning of the book are one page biographies of Anais Nin and Judy Chicago. These are followed by a nine page memoir of Anais Nin written by Judy Chicago that tells of their friendship and Nin's influence on her. It also goes into why she created this particular set of paintings.

This is a beautiful and erotic book. It is well-produced with a pink binding. PowerHouse Books has done a wonderful job of presenting these works.