Birgit Jurgenssen

The Austrian Birgit Jürgenssen (1949-2003) is one of the most prominent artists of the feminist avant-garde. Based on the emancipatory potential of Surrealism and in dialogue with the socio-critical discourse of her generation, she developed a multilayered and stylistically manifold art starting in the late sixties. The female body and its metamorphoses are at the center of her works dominated by drawing, print, and photography. Initiated by the Sammlung Verbund, this is the first monograph on her work. In this richly illustrated volume with contributions by Elisabeth Bronfen, Sigrid Schade, Gabriele Schor, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, and Geraldine Spiekermann, Birgit Jürgenssen's autonomous position is situated in the context of the history of art, and her relationship to literature, psychoanalysis, and structuralism is discussed.