'Killing the angel in the house': creativity, femininity and aggression

摘要

The author brings to bear an art historical perspective on the psychoanalytic understanding of creativity as an object relationship, proposing that the creative endeavour is determined by a wider, more complex network of internal and external object relationships than is usually assumed. The workings of tradition, language, contemporary practices, methods and materials are explored. Creative block is considered in the context of the determining relationships, with particular reference to the role of aggression.