Suffragettes to She Devils [Hardcover]

Liz McQuiston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 1997

This work charts the use of graphics and related media in the fight for women's rights throughout the century. It encompasses many of the associated issues that have surrounded these movements, as well as some of the attacks launched against them.From the Suffragettes, through to the virtual-reality explorations of end-of-the-century cyberfeminists, it highlights both large orchestrated campaigns, and small, intense personal statements. The book is international in scope, examining the tension of organisations "staging fights" for women's rights around the world. McQuiston selects a variety of posters, badges, billboards, fashions, publications, logos, adverts, and computer graphics to reflect the ways in which women have created avenues for communication through their graphic expression.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Not a history book, but a compilation of sparkling, hard-hitting graphics on the international women's movement drawn from the fine arts, fashion, and advertising to comics, broadsheets, and cyberart. Liz McQuiston's vivid text and selections center on how design furthered campaigns exalting or denigrating a woman's place in the world. Biting humor and anger crop up throughout. An automaker's billboard boasting "If it were a lady it would get its bottom pinched" draws the memorable spray-painted response: "If this lady was a car, she'd run you down." Voting rights, abuse, girl power, abortion, and parity are a few of the subjects touched on in this wide-ranging, freewheeling book on design and propaganda.

Review

This exhaustive study reveals that little has actually changed in feminist protest art since the earliest handmade signs hit the streets.... This book rejects issues of esthetics in favor of the contexts in which art is made and the constituencies it serves. -- The New York Times Book Review, Steven Heller

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; 1St Edition edition (December 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714836192
• ISBN-13: 978-0714836195
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful resources for feminists!, October 25, 2006

By 

T. Tononi "cuttlefish warrior" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suffragettes to She Devils (Hardcover)

This book has been an unending resource for me. As an activist I am always looking for ways to pay homage to the women who came before as well as create new graphics to communicate ideas. This book is an amazing encyclopedia of little know visual history from throughout the women's movement. Not only should any feminist own this book, but any girl or woman who loves the old school suffrage warriors, rosie the riviter, and the explosive energy of riot grrls.

I do not go anywhere without this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars a visual history of the American women's movement, April 8, 2000

By 

CJ (minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suffragettes to She Devils (Hardcover)

While the introduction by Germaine Greer is a little disappointing precisely because it lacks the edge of the rest of the book, overall I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the women's movement. Suffragettes and She-Devils incorporates a visual history with short commentary, but unlike other texts, we see the biting and often wacky side of feminism. Instead of photos of activists and protests, the focus is instead on politically-themed visual and commercial art of the movement. An edgy, eye-catching coffee table book for any feminist.