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Anita Steckel

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186: 245:, “The work was based on Steckel’s memories of men exposing themselves on the subway when she was a young woman riding from her parents’ home in Brooklyn to school in Manhattan. Here, her exposure lays claim to the men’s implicit assertion of power as it reactivates the trauma of witnessing their acts, which she refers to in a line of a limerick she wrote: ‘Those sexual shocks every day / Turned me into a difficult lay.’” All of Steckel’s pieces are imbued with a feminist and sexual energy, as “Subway” and her “Giant Woman” series are. 234:
The political content of her art was not limited to feminism, extending to larger issues of justice, and she explained that "When you come from a culture that has been the underdog in a very brutal way, you tend to speak out against injustice." Her immigrant parents were not religiously observant, but Jewish culture was part of her childhood experience, and the content of her adult art contains these cultural references. In
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She created a series of artworks concerning erections, in defense of which she said, “If the erect penis is not wholesome enough to go into museums, it should not be considered wholesome enough to go into women. And if it’s wholesome enough to go into women, it’s wholesome enough to go into museums.”
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Steckel began showing her work in both solo and group exhibitions beginning in the late 1960s. Her first publicly recognized work, a photomontage series titled "Mom Art" in 1963, included critiques of racism, war, and sexual inequalities. In her "Giant Woman" series of works, Steckel painted
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in 1972. The exhibition was controversial because Steckel's work was sexually explicit and some local authorities called for the closure of the show, or at least to move it to a "more appropriate venue", such as the men or women's restroom. She later explained that the Giant Women Series
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and worked on a Norwegian freighter that traveled to South America for two months. She also worked as a dancing instructor, where she won a competition and was crowned the "Mambo Queen of Southern California". She then went back to New York to study at
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immigrants Dora and Hyman Arkin. She had an abusive mother and a father who struggled with a gambling problem. She left home after an early graduation from the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan (now
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the Hudson River is filled with gefilte fish and Hitler "is depicted as a patriarchal menace with his throat being sliced by a nude female figure wielding an ax between her legs."
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with sexual imagery. She was also the founder of the arts organization "The Fight Censorship Group", whose other members included
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Richard Meyer, "Hard Targets: Male Bodies, Feminist Art and the Force of Censorship," in Cornelia Butler and Lisa G. Mark, eds.,
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theme that women had "outgrown their roles" in society as previously defined. In 1972, her work was exhibited at the
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Levin, Gail (2007). "Censorship, Politics, and Sexual Imagery in the work of Jewish-American Feminist Artists".
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series a mother feeds her muscle-man son sperm and tells him to "Eat your power honey before it grows cold."
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Middleman, Rachel (2013). "Anita Steckel's Feminist Montage: Merging Politics, Art, and Life".
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photomontages were a response to what she felt, that "men seemed to own the city." In
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oversized nude women onto photographs of city scenes, an idea associated with a
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She also made a piece titled “Subway” in 1973 which, to quote Richard Meyer of
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Middleman, Rachel. "Anita Steckel: The Feminist Art of Sexual Politics."
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In 2001, Steckel's work was exhibited at the Mitchell Algus Gallery.
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in New York alongside pieces by the influential feminist artists
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Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues
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Steckel came to public attention after her solo exhibition,
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Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics
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Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
1143: 1007: 966: 932: 914: 863: 766: 737: 74: 66: 56: 44: 28: 21: 465:"Of Peonies & Penises: Anita Steckel's Legacy" 157:, as well as completing advanced study at the 692: 8: 779:Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art 435:"The Art Students League | Instructors" 957:Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? 757:New York School of Applied Design for Women 144:). As a single young woman, Steckel dated 708:Feminist art movement in the United States 699: 685: 677: 437:. theartstudentsleague.org. Archived from 344: 342: 340: 338: 18: 618:"Anita Steckel: Self-Images and Montages" 745:American Association of University Women 177:, where she lived the rest of her life. 1231:Art Students League of New York faculty 257: 604:Wack!: Art and the Feminist Revolution 269:. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press. 904:WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution 751:National Association of Women Artists 598: 596: 493:32:1 (Winter/Spring 2014), pp. 22-25. 458: 456: 267:WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution 165:She also taught for several years at 7: 845:The Women's Building (San Francisco) 804:National Museum of Women in the Arts 672:National Museum of Women in the Arts 401: 399: 397: 310: 308: 306: 304: 284: 282: 280: 278: 276: 16:American feminist artist (1930–2012) 1221:20th-century American women artists 219:The Sexual Politics of Feminist Art 167:The Art Students League of New York 835:Women's Art Resources of Minnesota 265:Mark, Lisa Gabrielle, ed. (2007). 51:Manhattan, New York, United States 14: 1167:Feminist movements and ideologies 547:. oneartworld.com. Archived from 375:Amateau, Albert (April 5, 2012). 39:Brooklyn, New York, United States 809:New York Feminist Art Institute 668:Anita Steckel Papers, 1940-2012 159:Art Students League of New York 61:Art Students League of New York 1156:Women in the art history field 840:Woman's Building (Los Angeles) 577:. October 2009. Archived from 1: 1226:20th-century American artists 1216:American contemporary artists 1211:People from Greenwich Village 824:Washington Women's Art Center 189:"Feminist Party" poster. 1971 864:Exhibitions or installations 78:Pollock Krasner Grant (2005) 1246:21st-century American women 989:Women Artists in Revolution 829:Women Artists in Revolution 662:The Estate of Anita Steckel 1262: 1241:21st-century American Jews 1196:Artists from New York City 519:"Anita Steckel - New York" 223:Rockland Community College 85:Anita Slavin Arkin Steckel 1201:American feminist artists 1164: 714: 70:Painting and Photomontage 1236:American women academics 1151:List of feminist artists 949:The Feminist Art Journal 616:Goddard, Donald (2001). 471:. Jewish Women's Archive 463:Raub, Deborah Fineblum. 127:Early life and education 1206:Jewish American artists 855:Women's Studio Workshop 850:Women's Interart Center 767:Venues or organizations 200:Women's Interart Center 994:Women's Caucus for Art 915:Films or documentaries 789:Feminist Art Coalition 622:The New York Art World 545:Mitchell Algus Gallery 414:Brooklyn Museum of Art 190: 923:!Women Art Revolution 724:Feminist art movement 188: 541:"Anita Steckel 2006" 507:. February 14, 1972. 236:Skylines of New York 228:The New York Skyline 131:Steckel was born in 1055:Helen Frankenthaler 799:Lesbian Art Project 317:Woman's Art Journal 175:Manhattan, New York 1120:Carolee Schneemann 880:Three Weeks in May 407:"Anita Steckel CV" 354:The New York Times 191: 133:Brooklyn, New York 119:, Anne Sharpe and 1173: 1172: 1045:Mary Beth Edelson 1040:Elaine de Kooning 888:The Sister Chapel 581:on 9 January 2013 521:. 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Index

Art Students League of New York
photomontages
Hannah Wilke
Louise Bourgeois
Judith Bernstein
Martha Edelheit
Eunice Golden
Juanita McNeely
Barbara Nessim
Joan Semmel
Brooklyn, New York
Russian Jewish
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
Marlon Brando
Cooper Union
Alfred University
Art Students League of New York
Edwin Dickinson
The Art Students League of New York
Greenwich Village
Manhattan, New York

Women's movement
Women's Interart Center
Judy Chicago
Miriam Schapiro
Faith Ringgold
Rockland Community College
Artforum magazine

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