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Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?, 1989

Graphic material, 27.3 x 71.1 cm

In 1989, the Guerrilla Girls created one of their most emblematic communicative works: a poster with the question ‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?’ over the image of a reclining female nude wearing a gorilla mask. The image refers to the well-known picture by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres entitled La Grande Odalisque, 1814 (Louvre Museum, Paris). The gorilla mask is habitually worn by this group of women artists and feminist activists when appearing in public. Located above the image on a yellow background – a colour particularly associated with the Guerrilla Girls – the poster presents the following data: ‘Less than 5% of artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.’

The poster was originally designed for an advertising campaign commissioned by the Public Art Fund in New York, but was rejected. In view of this, the Guerrilla Girls rented advertising space on public buses in New York until the company cancelled the contract, alleging the image was too inciting.


Technical details

Original title:
Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?
Registration number:
1953
Artist:
Guerrilla Girls (Grup d'artistes)
Date created:
1989
Date acquired:
2002
Fonds:
MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
Object type:
Graphic material
Media:
Printed ink on paper
Dimensions:
27.3 x 71.1 cm (height x width)
Credits:
MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
Copyright:
© Guerrilla Girls
It has accessibility resources:
No

The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.

For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.

If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.