Art Object Page
National Gallery of Art
/content/dam/ngaweb/icons/favicon.ico
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.