Women Artists Visibility Event (W.A.V.E.) / Let MOMA Know


The Women's Artists Visibility Event (W.A.V.E.) also known as Let MOMA Know, was a demonstration held on June 14, 1984 to protest the lack of women artists represented in The Museum of Modern Art's re-opening exhibition "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture."[1] The exhibition, which included 165 artists, had 14 women among them.[2]

Event

The event's acronym, W.A.V.E., is a nod to Flag Day, which is observed on June 14 in the United States. 400 demonstrators, wearing suffragette yellow and white, marched in front the entrance to MoMA's newly expanded 53rd street building; a well received renovation that doubled its gallery space and increased traffic to the museum.[3][1][4][5] Demonstrators had three demands: that MoMA exhibit works by women artists from their permanent collection, that it display women's work in loan exhibitions, and that it create a policy to acquire women's work in the future.[3] The WCA created pins to parody MoMA's "Museum of Modern Art OPENS" staff badges, upon which they included the addition "But Not to Women Artists." Cards were distributed listing the names of 100 well known female artists who were not featured in the exhibit, including Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Faith Ringgold and Louise Bourgeois.[2]

One spokesperson for the museum, Louisa Kreisberg, noted that a film series in the exhibition featured four women of the six films shown, and that the staff at the museum was roughly 65% female.[6]

Organizers

The event was organized by the New York chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), and supported by three additional feminist arts organization; The Heresies Collective, Women's Interart Center, and Feminist Art Institute. Individual organizers for the event were artists Sabra Moore, and Betsy Damon and curator and President of WCA New York, Annie Shaver-Crandell.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lubell, Ellen (June 19, 1984). "Women March on MOMA". Village Voice.
  2. 1 2 Shepard, Joan (June 15, 1984). "Women Artists Picket MOMA". New York Daily News.
  3. 1 2 "WOMEN ARTISTS NEWS Summer 1984 — Independent Voices". voices.revealdigital.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  4. ↑ "Museum of Modern Art Expansion". Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  5. ↑ Goldberger, Paul (1984-04-15). "THE NEW MOMA". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Susan Heller (June 15, 1984). "Protest at the Modern For More Women's Art". New York Times.
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