Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada, and Everyday Modernity: A Cultural Biography

by Irene Gammel

Book Overview

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874-1927) is considered by many to be the first American dadaist as well as the mother of dada. An innovator in poetic form and an early creator of junk sculpture, the Baroness was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances. Some thought her merely crazed, others thought her a genius. The editor Margaret Anderson called her perhaps the only figure of our generation who deserves the epithet...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262072319
• ISBN13: 9780262072311
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 568 Pages
• Weight: 3.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

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Neither the editorial nor the customer reviews have anything to do with book as described under Product Details (which is the autobiography of Baroness Elsa von Loringhoven). The reviews relate to the biography of hers, authored by Irene Gammel.

The Baroness Lives!

Very well written compared to most art history books! This densely researched and hugely readable book brings to life a woman who was the friend and intellectual equal of Marcel Duchamp. The Dada Baroness was hugely important in the history of both fine art and poetry, yet is ignored in almost all standard art-historical reference tomes. Irene Gemmel brings her back from obscurity, she must now be included in all writing on the Dada movement, and beyond! Too many women artists have been ignored for too long by too many art historians. Demand that your library buy this book so that everyone can read it and give Elsa the recognition that she deserves.

could not put it down

I have to say that this is the first biography I've read all the way through. It is like a Danielle Steel novel, although probably not as detailed. As a student of art history I thought this was a very interesting take of the New York Dada movement, where the Baroness was the first to do "ready-mades" before Marcel Duchamp. Overall I thought it was wonderfully written, and very interesting.