Spare Rib, 1972-1981: Art, activism and the women's movement press

The digital explosion since the start of the twenty-first century has seen a surge in the study of periodicals associated with the women's liberation movement. Concurrently, as suggested by scholar Gwen Allen, 'Art historians and curators have begun to recognise the importance of the magazine as a unique historiographical object and lens'. The two fields have, however, rarely interacted. The aims for this chapter are therefore to review the arts reporting published in Spare Rib magazine, considering to what extent the publication offered a distinctive 'alternative space' for women's art by considering it relationally to the wider periodical landscape of the period. The chapter reviews the visual arts coverage published in Spare Rib under the editorial direction of Rozsika Parker between 1972 and 1981, considers this archive relationally by mapping the wider feminist periodical landscape, and draws on more recent theorisations of art criticism from Hilary Robinson and Katy Deepwell. By offering both a panoramic review and closer look at particular articles, the intention is to give a sense of the precise content and overarching logics shaping the magazine's arts publishing. Spare Rib is understood as vital to the history of the women's liberation movement in Britain; with this exploration the chapter emphasises its significance also for British art historiography of the 1970s and 1980s.