The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist

1988

Guerrilla Girls

Artist, founded 1985

Charcoal-gray, bold, sans serif text printed against a white background in two size fonts nearly fills this square print. The three lines of the larger text takes up the top third of the composition, and reads, “THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A WOMAN ARTIST.” Below, thirteen lines in smaller text, are indented from the edge like a bullet list. They read, “Working without the pressure of success/ Not having to be in shows with men/ Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs/ Knowing your career might pick up after you’re eighty/ Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine/ Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position/ Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others/ Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood/ Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits/ Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger/ Being included in revised versions of art history/ Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius/ Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.” Centered in a single line at the bottom of the page, just below the list and in an even smaller font, the text reads, “A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE FROM GUERRILLA GIRLS CONSCIENCE OF THE ART WORLD.” The phrase “Guerrilla Girls” jumps out of the sentence, its font size larger than any other except the title.
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In 1985 a number of iconoclastic posters decrying the marginalization of female artists appeared on walls in Soho and the East Village in New York. Created by an anonymous group called the Guerrilla Girls, the posters drew both howls of indignation and laughing affirmation. Since then, the Guerrilla Girls have aimed their sassy wit at museums, curators, collectors, critics, and art dealers across the country and abroad in their effort to raise the consciousness of the art world. In 2007 twenty-one generous staff members of the National Gallery of Art made personal contributions to an acquisition fund in order to purchase the Guerrilla Girls' Most Wanted portfolio for the collection. It contains thirty of the group's most illustrious posters from 1985 to 2006, one of which is The Advantages of Being a Woman ArtistIn celebration of this achievement, the donors of the Guerrilla Girls' Most Wanted adopted the name "Gallery Girls," and have since made gifts of works by Louise-Rosalie Hémery, Marjorie Content, Nancy Spero, William E, Williams, Denise Bellon, and Christina Ramberg.

Artwork overview

Associated Artworks

See all 32 artworks

How to Enjoy the Battle of the Sexes

Guerrilla Girls

1996

The Anatomically Correct Oscar

Guerrilla Girls

2002

Even the U.S. Senate is more progressive than Hollywood.

Guerrilla Girls

2003


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Guerrilla Girls, Inc.; gift to NGA, 2007.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2018

  • Sense of Humor: Caricature, Satire, and the Comical in Prints and Drawings from Leonardo to the Present, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018 - 2019.

Bibliography

2008

  • Brodie, Judith. "Guerrilla Girls, The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist." Bulletin / National Gallery of Art, no. 38 (Spring 2009): 19-20, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left verso in graphite: Guerrilla Girls

Wikidata ID

Q76438929


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