Power relations within the Situationist International: Michelle Bernstein and Jacqueline de Jong

This proposal presents the Dutch artist Jacqueline de Jong, (*1939, NL), and the French author/artist Michelle Bernstein, (*1932, F), two major of the very few women within the Situationist International movement. What both have in common is that as young women, they were related to the founding members and major actors of the group. Therefore, within the discourse of the Situationist International, de Jong is usually described as the muse of the 25 year older, at that point internationally acclaimed Danish artist. Bernstein, to the contrary, is pictured as the one who provided a living not only for herself but also for her husband Guy Debord, the philosopher who claimed “Never work” with his graffiti on a wall in Rue de Seine, Paris. At the same time, both women independently developed their own careers, identities and profiles as artists, writers and publishers. This proposal first looks at both figures, trying to detect and subsequently analyse the influence of their relationships
in becoming artists in their own rights. Unpublished interviews by the author with both women as well as published material will provide the sources for this examination. Subsequently, it investigates if and how recent exhibition practise on the Situationist International contributes to this rather one -­‐sided reading of “de Jong, the muse” and “Bernstein the breadwinner” in order to reveal, to which extent this either conforms or opposes to the results of the analysis in the first part.