Ferdi

Published to mark the centenary of Ferdi(na) Tajiri-Jansen (Ferdi) (1927–1969), this volume offers the first comprehensive international introduction to the work of one of the most original yet overlooked figures in postwar art. Across an experimental career spanning the 1950s and 1960s, Ferdi developed a highly distinctive visual language that moved fluidly between welded iron jewellery, painting, and exuberant textile sculptures, challenging conventional boundaries between art, craft, and design. Working during a period of profound social and cultural transformation, Ferdi explored questions that remain strikingly relevant today: gender roles, sexuality, eroticism, spirituality, and the relationship between human beings and the natural world. Her playful yet uncompromising practice reflects a moment when artistic expression and broader conceptions of identity and society were being fundamentally reimagined. Despite the originality and ambition of her work, Ferdi has never received the international recognition accorded to many of her male contemporaries. Bringing together key works from across her career, this richly illustrated publication reassesses her artistic legacy and situates her within the wider history of postwar European art. Through new scholarship and fresh perspectives, it reveals an artist whose innovative practice deserves a central place in the story of twentieth-century modernism.