A rare, ever-relevant compendium of texts and manifestos from women
artists on gender and race issues in cultural institutions
Originally published in 1971, A Documentary HerStory of Women Artists
in Revolution documents the efforts of W.A.R., a loose group of women
artists, filmmakers, writers and cultural workers organized around
advancing the place of women in the art world. Members of W.A.R.
included Juliette Gordon, Sara Saporta, Therese Schwartz, Muriel
Castanis, Cindy Nemser, Dolores Holmes, Betsy Jones, Silvia Goldsmith,
Jan McDevitt, Lucy Lippard, Grace Glueck, Poppy Johnson, Brenda Miller,
Faith Ringgold, Emily Genauer, Agnes Denes, Doloris O'Kane and
Jacqueline Skiles.
Active from 1969 to 1971, W.A.R. was founded as the women's caucus of
the Art Workers' Coalition (AWC). AWC mobilized around anti-war protest
and anti-racist action, also campaigning for artists' rights and wages,
the decentralization of museums across NYC boroughs, more diverse
exhibition programming and the restructuring of management within
cultural institutions.
This facsimile publication of A Documentary HerStory of Women Artists
in Revolution gathers manifestos, statements and declarations by W.A.R.
members; articles and reports about gendered and racialized
discrimination in the arts; pro-abortion flyers and protest ephemera;
and grant applications and reports detailing the founding of the Women's
Interart Center in spring 1970, W.A.R.'s brick-and-mortar studio,
workshop and exhibition space. It also reproduces documentation of key
actions including the 1970 Art Strike Against Racism, Sexism, Repression
and War, and correspondence with officials at the Whitney Museum, the
Guggenheim Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.
This publication takes as its source the second edition of the
publication, which was published in 1973. The edition was chosen because
it features a preface and addendum with retrospective reflections on the
history and activities of W.A.R.
