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Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?

Poster
1989 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Guerrilla Girls (makers)
Place of origin
USA (printed)

This poster is part of the Guerrilla Girls protest against sexual and racial prejudice in the New York art world. Although their protest is directed against the world of the gallery and the museum, their witty and ironic posters appear in everyday settings. When this design was barred from public hoardings, the Guerrilla Girls arranged for it to be displayed on New York city buses.

Object details

Categories
Prints
Posters
Object type
Poster
TitleDo women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour offset lithograph
Paper
Colour Offset Lithograph
Brief description
Poster by Guerrilla Girls, 'Do Women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?', colour offset lithograph, 1989
Physical description
A colour poster, with a yellow background, depicting a black and white photographic image of a reclining female nude with a gorilla's head in side profile.
Dimensions
  • Height: 28.1cm
  • Width: 71.1cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1997
Marks and inscriptions
'Do women have to be naked to / get into the Met Museum?' 'Less the 5% of the artists in the Modern / Art sections are women, but / 85% of the nudes are female.' 'GUERRILLA GIRLS CONSCIENCE OF THE ART WORLD'
Credit line
Copyright Guerrilla Girls. Given by Margaret Timmers.
Subjects depicted
Sex Discrimination
Female Nude
Gorilla
Summary
This poster is part of the Guerrilla Girls protest against sexual and racial prejudice in the New York art world. Although their protest is directed against the world of the gallery and the museum, their witty and ironic posters appear in everyday settings. When this design was barred from public hoardings, the Guerrilla Girls arranged for it to be displayed on New York city buses.
Bibliographic references
  • McQuiston, Liz. Graphic Agitation. London: Phaidon, 1993.
  • Ades, Dawn. Power for Art's Sake in The Power of the Poster. Ed. Margaret Timmers. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1998. pp. 98-99
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1997
  • Stephen Coppel, Catherine Daunt, Susan Tallman ; with contributions from Isabel Seligman and Jennifer Ramkalawon The America Dream: pop to the present London : Thames & Hudson, in collaboration with the British Museum, 2017.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.622-1997

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Record createdFebruary 26, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75448/do-women-have-to-be-poster-guerrilla-girls/
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