See more objects with the tag communication, graphic design, advertising, women, theatrical, mask, odalisque, performance, activists, activist poster, radical, nude, gorilla, female, seductive, political poster, double the meaning.

See more objects with the color darkslategrey darkslategrey rosybrown grey black or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

-0001

1989

  • Work on this object began.

2009

  • We acquired this object.

2013

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?

This is a Poster. It is dated 1989 and we acquired it in 2009. Its medium is photo-offset lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The Guerrilla Girls, founded in 1985, are a group of anonymous female graphic designers who create unique combination of content and eye catching graphics to present feminist viewpoints in a sly, ironic way. Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum? is proposed for acquisition along with another Guerrilla Girls poster; the pair would be the first posters by this design group to enter the collection.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Guerilla Feminism.

This object was donated by Marc Benda. It is credited Gift of Sara and Marc Benda.

  • Drawing, View of a Masquerade Ball
  • pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, watercolor, black chalk on white laid....
  • Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
  • 1911-28-38
  •

Our curators have highlighted 11 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Poster, Blues Project
  • offset lithograph on white wove paper.
  • Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie J. Schreyer.
  • 1979-34-39
  •
  • Poster, Big Nudes
  • offset lithograph on paper.
  • Gift of Sara and Marc Benda.
  • 2009-20-3

Its dimensions are

Image: 27.5 × 71.1 cm (10 13/16 in. × 28 in.)

It is inscribed

Printed in black ink: Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?; printed in black and red inks, below: Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern/ Art sections are women, but 85%/ of the nudes are female./ Guerrilla Girls Conscience of the Art World/ www.guerrillagirls.com.

Cite this object as

Poster, Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?; USA; photo-offset lithograph on paper; Image: 27.5 × 71.1 cm (10 13/16 in. × 28 in.); Gift of Sara and Marc Benda; 2009-20-2

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition How Posters Work.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18731763/ |title=Poster, Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum? |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>