The first book by Helene Cixous on painting and the contemporary arts. This collection gathers most of Helene Cixous' short texts devoted to contemporary artists, such as the painter Nancy Spero, the photographer Andres Serrano, the visual artists Roni Horn and Ernest Pignon-Ernest, the fashion designer Sonia Rykiel and the choreographer Karine Saporta, among others. The artworks belong to different genres and media: photography, painting, installations, film, choreography and fashion design. Nevertheless, Helene Cixous' texts all deal with some of her privileged themes: exile, war, violence (against women) and exclusion, as well as love, memory, beauty and tenderness. Neither art criticism nor critical essays, Helene Cixous responds to these artworks as a poet, reading them as if they were poems. Written between 1985 and 2010, most of these essays are unpublished in English, or published only in rare catalogues or art books. Key Features *Combines poetic, theoretical and critical writing and Cixous' unique methodology *Addresses an important collection of contemporary artists, including Americans Nancy Spero and Roni Horn, the London artist Maria Chevska, the Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson, the filmmaker Ruth Bekermann, the French choreographer Karine Saporta and the French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel. *Treats a range of media and genre: photography, painting, installations, film, choreography, fashion design