backstory: backstory to the Guerrilla Girls backstory, and some good news
Anonymity has always been a signature of the Guerrilla Girls’ practice. That said, many, many years ago, I was sitting in my office here at the Neuberger with one of the Guerrilla Girls: she had come to speak to a class of mine and was taking a break prior. I left the room, and, when I returned, she was sitting there with her mask off.
“It’s just too hard to eat and drink with the mask on.” I was kind of stunned but, sure, that makes a lot of sense. I spill on myself even without wearing a giant gorilla head.
Private unveilings have happened in a variety of ways from time to time throughout the art world. Then, several years ago, artists Petah Coyne and Kathy Grove began identifying the Girls as they passed away in their project entitled The Real Guerrillas: The Early Years. This is an ongoing project that seeks not to unmask but to commemorate artists whose anonymity was a necessity of their practice. While some of the Girls’ identities have been leaked and rumored, certain Guerrilla Girls have decided for various reasons to consciously unmask before their passing (such as painter Robin Tewes, aka “Alice Neel”). This week another one of the Girls, Joyce Kozloff, unveiled herself publicly, stating, “I had planned to remain anonymous as a girl until my death, but I’m feeling my mortality now—this is the first time I’ve publicly told this story.”
I don’t know Joyce personally but I certainly know her work well, especially the pattern and decoration work for which she is best known, and in particular her gorgeous gates at the 86th and Central Park West subway station in New York City. In an interview for the Feminist Interview Project, organized by the College Art Association, Kozloff observed, “Remaining anonymous was an important Guerrilla Girls decision. People thought this was to avoid art world reprisals. For me, that was never the reason. I argued for anonymity because I didn’t want attention to be on us as individuals, I wanted it to remain on the issues.”
Brave artists.
Good news: if you haven’t had a chance to see Guerrilla Girls: Food For Thought at the Neuberger, it’s extended to September 13! Don’t miss it.
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art
P.S. I’ll be on vacation the next two weeks. Back to backstory mid-August.
