Meret Oppenheim: Femme Fatale Is an Insult

In 1975, Meret Oppenheim’s small painting Würgeengel, or Angel of Death, is included in a sprawling exhibition organized by famous curator Harald Szeemann. She had painted it over 40 years earlier, when she was only 16 years old. The only problem now is that the curator has totally misunderstood her artwork—and placed it in a sexist context in the show. Rather than meekly accept this, Oppenheim writes Szeemann a deeply personal letter. Across five pages, she details the challenges she faced as a young woman who didn’t want children and was trying to make it as an artist in a heavily male sphere. Writing at age 63, Oppenheim speaks to burgeoning feminist ideals after decades of fighting back against sexist stereotypes.

In this episode of Recording Artists: Intimate Addresses, you’ll hear Oppenheim’s little-told story: an artist best known for lining a teacup in fur but who never stopped innovating, who socialized with the Surrealists as a teenager and kept a pistol in her studio to fight Nazis, and who took up the feminist cause towards the end of her career. Anna Deavere Smith reads the letter. Curator Bice Curiger, Oppenheim’s biographer, shares stories of Oppenheim’s life while artist Barbara T. Smith provides insight into the challenges facing women artists, particularly in the mid-20th century.

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