Traditional and contemporary artwork can serve as a creative outlet to showcase deeper

issues and messages to a specific audience. Specifically with feminist artwork, the artist can use

various artistic techniques in order to address gender issues. 3 pieces of feminist artwork were

chosen to analyze in depth how the artist has chosen to express their ideas when it comes to

addressing gender issues.

The first piece of artwork that I chose to analyze was “Do Women Have To Be Naked To

Get Into the Met. Museum?” by Guerrilla Girls. When taking a look at this piece of artwork, a

naked woman with a gorilla head laying on purple cloth can be observed in the corner. There’s

also bolded text displayed in the majority of the artwork reading, “Do women have to be naked

to get into the Met. Museum? Less that 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women,

but 85% of the nudes are female”. Some of the creative strategies that were used in this artwork

include layering and elaboration (Marshall, 2019, p. 82). The use of layering was showcased by

superimposing a gorilla head in place of the woman’s head to protect the identity of the women

from the Guerrilla Girls. In addition, the use of layering text to the side of the image in bold

draws attention to read the message that’s projected. The use of elaboration was showcased by

providing the powerful message to the right of the woman, to go into detail of the irony of the

fact that most of the nudes are female, yet very few of the artists themselves are actually female.

One of the big ideas of this artwork is to highlight the lack of female artists within the

Metropolitan Museum's collection in New York (Tate, 2020). In addition, I believe this artwork

will provoke public attention or discussion because of the eye-catching graphics and use of a

nude woman. The use of a nude woman can certainly make heads turn, especially because of the

gorilla head attached to the body. Because of these elements, it could potentially spark the

change for more female artists to be represented in the Met. Museum.

 The second piece of artwork that I chose to analyze was “It’s A Small World But Not If

You Have To Clean It” by Barbara Kruger. When taking a look at this piece of artwork, a woman

can be observed holding a magnifying glass up to her eye, with her eye appearing magnified

compared to her other eye. In addition, there’s bold text on the top and bottom of the woman

reading, “It’s a small world but not if you have to clean it”. Some of the creative strategies that

were used in this artwork include changing scale and layering (Marshall, 2019, p. 82). Changing

scale in this artwork was showcased by incorporating a magnifying glass held by the woman in

order to enlarge her left eye. Layering in this artwork was showcased by incorporating bolded

white text against bright red textboxes to capture the viewer’s eye. One of the main meanings of

this artwork is to capture the standard that women are expected to do the majority of housework.

This piece of artwork sets the scene for what expectations and responsibilities of women during

postwar America under a suburban lifestyle was like (Cvetković, 2020). This issue is not only

relevant to the past, but also directly applies to contemporary society as well. I believe this

artwork will provoke public attention or discussion because Kruger is an artist that is known for

using slogans in her feminist artwork. The slogans themselves are short, but powerful and

certainly stand out with the use of bolding the letters and choosing bright colors. The text she

chose to incorporate in this artwork serves as a message to consider and question codes of

culture, identity, and oppression.

The final piece of artwork that I chose to analyze was “Self-Portrait with Monkey” by

Frida Kahlo. When taking a look at this piece of artwork, a woman with facial hair can be seen,

specifically with a unibrow, mustache, and beard. She also appears to have a longer neck, with a

monkey wrapped around it against a jungle background. Some of the creative strategies that were

used in this artwork include embodiment and changing scale (Marshall, 2019, p. 82). Kahlo
chose the woman in the artwork to embody a masculine appearance, with features such as

unplucked eyebrows and facial hair. In addition Kahlo chose to change scale to make the woman

in the artwork have a relatively larger neck to draw attention to her physical appearance overall.

One of the main meanings of this artwork is to break the traditional stereotypes and conventions

of a woman’s beauty. Kahlo refused to alter her natural features, despite the harsh gender

inequality of the 1900s. Her artwork resembles a self portrait, showcasing her mono-brow and

mustache, which were often labeled inappropriately as “masculine”. Kahlo was not ashamed of

her appearance, and wanted to exemplify these features within her artwork to challenge

traditional beauty stereotypes (Cheong, 2021). I believe this artwork will provoke public

attention or discussion because many individuals still have the belief that women should be

hairless and maintain a “clean face” with makeup, so this piece of artwork is strikingly different

from this belief. In this piece of artwork, it’s clear that the woman has visible facial hair and

more masculine features, so it could be controversial and can challenge the standard of women

having to look very “feminine” and hairless.

Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum? by Guerrilla Girls, Created in

1989, Poster Medium, Located on New York City’s Buses

 Untitled (It’s A Small World But Not If You Have To Clean It) by Barbara Kruger, Created in

1979, Photographic Silkscreen on Vinyl Medium, Located in The Museum of Contemporary Art,

Los Angeles CA

Self-Portrait with Monkey by Frida Kahlo, Created in 1938, Oil On Masonite Painting Medium,

Located in Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo NY

 References

Cheong, P. (2021, May 27). How Frida Kahlo broke all conventions and shaped

feminism. Sound of Life.

https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/people/how-frida-kahlo-broke-all-conventions

-and-shaped-feminism

Cvetković, D. (2020, October 16). The Rise of the Women Movement: 7 feminist art

pieces you should know. TheCollector. https://www.thecollector.com/feminist-art/

Marshall, J., Ledo-Lane, A., & McAvoy, E. (2019). Integrating the visual arts across the

curriculum: An elementary and middle school guide. Teachers College Press.

Tate. (2020, July). ‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?‘, Guerrilla

Girls, 1989. Tate. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-do-women-have-to-be-naked-t

o-get-into-the-met-museum-p78793