Description: A comprehensive account of remarkable artwork and accomplishments by over 250 contemporary women recipients of the Anonymous Was A Woman award.
Anonymous Was A Woman: The First 25 Years celebrates the transformative impact of women artists on contemporary art since the founding of the titular grant. In addition to new essays, the book offers a biographical description with selected artworks of each artist who received the Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) award from its founding in 1996 through 2020, a period in which the accomplishments of women have thoroughly transformed contemporary art. In honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the AWAW award, this landmark publication commemorates 251 recipients. Surveying their careers offers a wealth of previously untold histories. Anonymous Was A Woman also includes contributions by coeditors Nancy Princenthal and Vesela Sretenovic, along with commentaries by other women scholars and a roundtable discussion featuring founder Susan Unterberg.Brief description: Alexandra Schwartz is curator of modern and contemporary art, craft, and design at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York. Her exhibitions and catalogs include Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art and Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, and her books include Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles and Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art.