CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 3/2/2021

'Gladys Nilsson: Honk! Fifty Years of Painting' is a Staff Pick for Women's History Month and Beyond

Featured spreads are from Gladys Nilsson: Honk! Fifty Years of Painting, a staff-favorite tribute to the singular path of the Hairy Who pioneer. In a published interview, Alison M. Gingeras asks, "Speaking of history, and what I supposed is now being heralded as a 'new' art history, I want to ask you a number of questions related to gender and feminism. When I was in the contemporary galleries at the Art Institute yesterday, I read a wall label that characterized a work as 'gendered.' Forgive me for going right in at the deep end, but how would you feel about someone describing your work as gendered?" Nilsson's reply: "I don’t even know what gendered means! I will tell you an early experience. I guess it was the first Hairy Who show, in 1966, which I had some little watercolors in. A reviewer was describing the work: 'Jim Nutt has this,' 'Art Green has that,' 'Suellen Rocca has this.' I was the last one mentioned: 'and Gladys Nilsson, the most feminine of the group.' That knocked me for a loop. I had never made a judgment like that. It never even occurred to me to say, 'obviously done by some man' or 'oh, that’s a lady’s work.'"