She Was a Writer
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Published:September 2024
Jill Johnston wrote about three artists more than any others: writer Gertrude Stein, choreographer Yvonne Rainer, and painter Agnes Martin. This chapter considers these many writings as a form of lesbian dance criticism, an example of how Johnston followed not just art but artists, understanding life and art as indistinct. Each of the featured artists reveals a different aspect of Johnston’s approach to criticism: Stein reveals aspects of both dance artists and Johnston’s writing; Rainer’s appearances in Johnston’s column demonstrate what it means to follow an artist’s transformations; and Johnston’s writing about Martin displays how criticism is a relational practice, as well as how and why Johnston turned to Martin to understand the effect of having a diagnosis of schizophrenia as a woman in the 1960s and 1970s.
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