It is hard to place Mina Loy’s practice into a single stylistic category. Her peregrina- tions between Europe and America made her approach alternately Futurist, Dada, and Surrealist. As evidenced by her poetry collection Aphorisms on Futurism (1914) and the famous letter known as the Feminist Manifesto (1914), she seems to have adopted the “words in freedom” approach of the Italian avant-garde. Unlike Marinetti’s group, however, Loy thought of her works as messages addressed to an audience of women whom she urged to achieve intellectual, emotional, and sexual emancipation. Having settled overseas, the artist adopted a unique artistic approach that was close to Dada in its techniques, yet powerfully Surrealist in its results. Househunting (c. 1950) brings a new depth to the feminism expressed by Loy’s Aphorisms. Like the visual representation of a verse written thirty years before – “Forget that you live in houses, that you may live in yourself” – Househunting is an assemblage of different materials that form the image of a woman; surrounded by ten buildings, she wears a headdress containing a teapot, a ball of yarn, items of food, and laundry on a line. While the latter are clearly references to the stereotypes that hinder female independence, the figure’s surroundings allude to freedom, and seem to describe the modern spirit guiding the artist.
Stefano Mudu
