Silkscreen, from the portfolio Ten From Leo Castelli

Lee Bontecou’s print is the only work by a female artist in a ten-piece portfolio made for the art dealer Leo Castelli. Bontecou was also one of the first women to have her work featured at Castelli’s prestigious New York contemporary art gallery in 1960. This image is characteristic of the artist’s style from the 60s, when she created large metal and canvas hangings with dynamic, abstract organic forms and voids. Many of the women who participated in the feminist art movement of the 70s have considered Bontecou’s signature deep circular opening motif as a celebration of the female body due to its striking allusion to female genitalia. In interviews, however, Bontecou has publicly denied that her art is a commentary on feminist issues or women’s bodies, declaring, “Art is art and it doesn’t mean [sic] whether it’s woman or man.”