Do Women STILL Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum?

Asked to design a billboard for the Public Art Fund in New York, we welcomed the chance to do something that would appeal to a general audience. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to count the number of women artists on exhibit compared to the number of naked female bodies in the art works. The results were very revealing. The Public Art Fund rejected it as a billboard, claiming it wasn’t “clear enough,” so we ran it as an ad in New York City busses instead.

We’ve conducted a few re-counts. Below are results from 1989, 2005 and 2012.

 
 

Since Naked first appeared on NYC busses, it’s graced hundreds of books, streets, museums, and countless dormitory rooms.