Helen Chadwick

Life Pleasures

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The first ever critical biography of Helen Chadwick, who died tragically young but is now revered as a pioneering feminist artist

Helen Chadwick (1953–1996) embraced the sensuous aspects of the natural world, breaking taboos of the ‘traditional’ or ‘beautiful’. Her sculpture, performance and photography is radical, provocative and often steeped in humour, and employs unusual, sometimes grotesque materials – bodily fluids, meat, flowers, chocolate and compost among them. She quickly became a leading figure amongst Britain’s post-war avant-garde, becoming one of the first women to be nominated for the Turner Prize.

A dedicated teacher, she mentored the majority of the Young British Artists and is now known as the ‘mother of the YBAs’. She was also involved in the artistic community at Beck Road, Hackney, whose residents included Maureen Paley, Richard Deacon and Genesis P-Orridge.

Although she was widely exhibited during her lifetime, attention to Chadwick’s work declined following her unexpected death in 1996, and it is only relatively recently that the significance of her work has been acknowledged afresh. Coinciding with a major touring retrospective, this publication spans the breadth of her practice, from her renowned MA degree show In the Kitchen (1977) through to her seminal Piss Flowers (1991–2). Merging art and life, with a focus on Chadwick’s interdisciplinary interests and engagement with education, music and politics, as well as an in-depth study of her art and ideas, the book is a fitting tribute to her vital impact on social and cultural history.
Extent: 272 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 214
Publication date: 2025-05-15
Size: 24.0 x 16.5 cm
ISBN: 9780500028889

Press Reviews

Chadwick was an artist of rare material and emotional literacy and her influence on the language of contemporary British art remains palpable. Perhaps most enlightening amid the breadth of work contained in the Chadwick monograph is proof of her exacting production values … This blend of precision and rebellion, of rigour and subversion, is what sets Chadwick apart – it is art that never settles, that prods and riles and roars until you cannot ignore it any longer
The Art Newspaper




About the Authors

Laura Smith is the Director of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield. She was previously curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London. She writes extensively on modern and contemporary art, recently contributing to the publications Revisiting Modern British Art and Virginia Woolf Reader, as well as many artists’ monographs. Marina Warner is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. Maria Christoforidou is an artist, writer and researcher. Philomena Epps is a writer, art critic and researcher. Katrin Bucher Trantow is the chief curator of the Kunsthaus Graz.

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