The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art

Rating:
Summary: They make art history interesting!
Review: I saw the Guerilla Girls two years ago at Barnes and Noble in New York's Greenwich Village. They were book signing 'Beside Companinon to the History of Western Art' and I must say I was impressed by their knowledge and intellect. They also made me laugh, which is refreshing, because art history is taking TOO seriously by the academy.

Anyone who loves art but could care less about the history should pick up this book. It does not bore you to tears with academic jargon, it is filled with illustrations and spunky commentary on a very large subject: Western art. The Guerilla Girls are smart enough to stay with certain topics and themes. Western art is too huge to cover it in one sitting, the girls go right to the good stuff. Well done.

Rating:
Summary: a bit basic, but useful for the non-artist
Review: The book is informative and enjoyable to read through. Graphics and visuals support the text. Most artists and art educators are (or should be) familiar with the Guerilla Girls and their work and may find this a repeat of what is already known, For those who are unfamiliar with their works or who have had a typical western oriented art history background, this book will be an eye opener.

Rating:
Summary: A funny and informative revision of traditional art history
Review: The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside companion to the History of Western Art succeeds on several levels. First of all, it works on a visual level, with graphics that draw you in immediately. But after you are drawn in, one is equally impressed by the text, which is simultaneously informative and humorous. Between the David Letterman-like top 10 lists, the cartoons, and the collages, one is constantly entertained while simultaneously becoming outraged by outdated, demeaning quotes about women from well-known men. At the same time, one learns a lot about some female artists that have been ignored during our art history studies, and one sees a different perspective on some more famous female artists that were mentioned but treated with less admiration than they probably deserved.

All in all, this book succeeds as an extension of the Guerrilla Girls performance art, reaching out to those of us who couldn't go to a New York opening and see it crashed by these women in Gorilla masks. Hopefully soon, partially thanks to books like this, more people will wonder why most of the nudes in museums are women, while so few of the artists represented in these museums are of that same gender.

Rating:
Summary: A funny and informative revision of traditional art history
Review: The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside companion to the History of Western Art succeeds on several levels. First of all, it works on a visual level, with graphics that draw you in immediately. But after you are drawn in, one is equally impressed by the text, which is simultaneously informative and humorous. Between the David Letterman-like top 10 lists, the cartoons, and the collages, one is constantly entertained while simultaneously becoming outraged by outdated, demeaning quotes about women from well-known men. At the same time, one learns a lot about some female artists that have been ignored during our art history studies, and one sees a different perspective on some more famous female artists that were mentioned but treated with less admiration than they probably deserved.

All in all, this book succeeds as an extension of the Guerrilla Girls performance art, reaching out to those of us who couldn't go to a New York opening and see it crashed by these women in Gorilla masks. Hopefully soon, partially thanks to books like this, more people will wonder why most of the nudes in museums are women, while so few of the artists represented in these museums are of that same gender.

Rating:
Summary: Far too short!!
Review: This book takes you, with biting wit and humor, beyond the works of "accepted" masters (all of whom I deeply admire, by the way), showing you that for every renaissance man, there was an Artemisia Gentileschi. That among the plethora of still lifes from the 17th and 18th centuries, you that you would do well to study those of Rachel Rueysch, who captures every petal and leaf with intoxicating detail and color. They were able, even with my deep-seated resistance to "modern art", to instill in me a deep appreciation for works of impressionists, modernists, post-modernists and abstract artists.

In short, an ideal starting point for those looking to delve into art history, yet still ideal for those academics with short attentions spans. I only wish it were longer!

Rating:
Summary: Far too short!!
Review: This book takes you, with biting wit and humor, beyond the works of "accepted" masters (all of whom I deeply admire, by the way), showing you that for every renaissance man, there was an Artemisia Gentileschi. That among the plethora of still lifes from the 17th and 18th centuries, you that you would do well to study those of Rachel Rueysch, who captures every petal and leaf with intoxicating detail and color. They were able, even with my deep-seated resistance to "modern art", to instill in me a deep appreciation for works of impressionists, modernists, post-modernists and abstract artists.

In short, an ideal starting point for those looking to delve into art history, yet still ideal for those academics with short attentions spans. I only wish it were longer!

Rating:
Summary: Masked Feminist Avengers take on the history of art.
Review: We're an anonymous group of artists and art professionals formed in 1984 to expose racism, sexism and homophobia in the art world. We put provocative posters on the streets of New York and supporters copied and passed them all over. We became underground feminist heroes..... masked avengers like Robin Hood, The Lone Ranger and Wonder Woman. We staged protests, gave lectures and interviews, designed magazine spreads and finally wrote a memoir, Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls. It's our account of 10 years of Guerrilla warfare with galleries, museums, art mags and auction houses. We discovered humor is a serious weapon against injustice and we became humorists and writers by default. Our numbers have grown, our identities remain secret. We have no hierarchy and work by consensus. Sure, we fight and whine a lot and then agree to disagree when we hit impasses. Each GG has projects she loves and ones she can't stand. After Confessions, we got this grandiose idea to rewrite western art history, telling the stories of all the great women artists who got left out. The deeper we dug , the more fascinating material we found: women who had to join convents to get a life, who cross dressed to work in public, who had to go far from home to do as they pleased. Female artists have led incredible lives and nobody knows about them! We tell their stories as ammunition for all girls who have the itch to become artists. Every year we make dozens of appearances at colleges, universities and art schools to tell our story and incite activism. Our web site at [e-mail] is where we reveal our adventures, show our latest actions, publish hate mail and hear from our friends and foes via (f)e-mail. While we love the mess of wallpaper glue and late-night sniping (slang for illegal postering), our web site takes us to places unimaginable when we started. Our dream is to launch an estrogen bomb into cyberspace and strike fear and terror in the hearts of misogynists and sexists everywhere. Join us!