Forms of Difference in Sorcières

Abstract

Art practice and organizing occupied a significant but precarious place in the groups and networks that made up the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF) in France during the 1970s. This was reflected in the relatively small amount of space allocated to analyzing the relationships between visual production and feminist politics in the art press and activist publications alike. There was, however, one significant exception to this general rule: the journal Sorcières (1975–1982) which, although a predominantly literary initiative, regularly featured original contributions by contemporary women artists working in the context of the MLF, as well as reviews of exhibitions and statements by practitioners. Sorcières was particularly invested in exploring notions of women’s difference and alternative expression, notably through écriture féminine. Yet the publication did not adopt an exclusively essentialist position, or focus on embodiment to the outright dismissal of materialist concerns. This openness is especially apparent in the journal’s engagement with visual art, resulting partly from the key contribution made by members of the Collectif Femmes/Art. Visual production, this article contends, thus played a key role in the exploration of various forms of difference across the pages of Sorcières.

Keywords:

• art criticism
• Collectif Femmes/Art
• difference
• écriture féminine
• feminist press
• France
• literary-visual culture
• May 1968
• Mouvement de libération des femmes
• Sorcières

Notes

1 Dallier had travelled to the US in 1972, when she visited the women-run A.I.R. Gallery in New York; in 1976 she helped organize the exhibition Combative Acts, Profiles and Voices: An Exhibition of Women Artists from Paris at the gallery.

2 The first issue is therefore also often dated to the beginning of 1976. It is difficult to ascertain the exact dates of the issues, because they did not include the details of the month or year in which they were printed. This was a deliberate editorial choice to distance the journal from the Christian calendar. Xavier Gauthier, email correspondence with the author, 27 June 2019. I have retained the date of 1976 in my citations for the first issue, because that is how most libraries where scholars will find the journal have catalogued it.

3 Unless otherwise noted in the list of works cited, translations are my own.

4 ‘La Jasette’ is a Québécois term for chatting or discussion.

5 Possibly Christine Delphy, an interesting point of intersection given her materialist approach.

6 Fini was born in Argentina before moving to Italy.