Bonn

A feminist as a Celtic goddess: The founder of the world’s first Women’s Museum, Marianne Pitzen, has been fighting for women’s rights – in life and in art – for decades. It was never very easy, but always exciting.

Marianne Pitzen, 64, has been wearing an eye-catching hairstyle patterned after a Celtic goddess most of her life. At seventeen, she decided to follow her dream and prove her courage to the world with her wheel-like headdress. “In school, I could hardly pass by any classmates without them shouting in chorus, ‘Look at her!’” she remembers today with a laugh. Since then, she has been encouraging other women to be unusual and play with symbolism. “My hair is shaped in a double-loop; a symbol of energy.”

The stony pathway to the art scene

She has had to prove herself all her life. In the 1960s, her parents would not accept her decision to study art. They refused to give her financial support and even broke off contact with her. “I was often very distressed back then. I thought I was unlucky.” Not until the birth of her son was she able to reconcile with her parents. Yet, impediments never kept Marianne Pitzen off her pathway. Over all the years, her husband Horst, also an artist, and her son, now 42, were always very supportive.

Her pathway to art began in a time when women played only a minor role in the art world. She aimed to counter that. In 1981 she founded the Women’s Museum in Bonn; the first in the world. This was the first highlight in her rebellious life. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, she spoke cheerfully about women, men and her own fight for equality.

Do women finally have equal rights, at least in Germany?

Pitzen: No. Although we have very good legislation here in Western Europe, it is still difficult in everyday life to combine work and family. Of course, women’s awareness and that of society have changed. Today, men also care for children. But we also look beyond our nation – how are the women in Eastern Europe doing, in the Middle and Far East? We are again at risk of much being reversed. Religious, radical extremism is gaining more and more foothold in all of the countries around the Mediterranean. There are incredible contrasts in Eastern Europe! On the one hand very great, powerful women – even presidents – and on the other also extreme exploitation of women.

Your big fight for women’s rights, however, began with art.

For us art is part of politics and politics is part of art. Back then, we went to a number of museums and saw no women, at most only as passive models. We criticized that. When we were told that women were not gifted enough, we said, “Of course women are very gifted!” But, they have to be permitted to work.

Yet you used radical means to acquire the premises for your Women’s Museum – by occupying a vacant department store.

The building was provided to us for one exhibition and then we decided we liked it here and that we wanted to stay. So, we occupied it. But we were very affable about it. We always talked with the city administration, but they were perplexed. They had never before experienced women who did not let themselves be browbeaten.

The feminist movement was already underway in Germany. Were you part of it from the start?

I began painting pictures based on the theme of matriarchy in 1969. That is more than equality; it’s a shift of world foundations. It overturns values. No longer is man considered god, a superior being, but woman. Matriarchies are not anti-male, but in them men play only a nice, modest role.

Isn’t just the concept of oppressing men behind it?

I don’t want to oppress men; I want to show that even men can be delicate creatures. They don’t always have to be strong; men are also not all the same. The different-minded men break the mould. And they are always our supporters.

Is your husband Horst Pitzen one of them?

Exactly; a very good example. One could say that he is a staunch feminist. To him, it is all very exciting.

And how is he received by other men?

Fabulously! They admire him. They think, “Wow, he manages it – with a genuine feminist.” It’s interesting for him and that is why he also works for the museum – he oversees the archives.

You have it easier than many other women: you don’t have a macho at home, as an artist, you can wear a crazy hair-do, which might be a drawback if you worked an office job.

It’s not always been this way. Even they have to be a little adjusted. And before that, I had to break free from my parents. Those were real battles. We also had no money when we began here in the Women’s Museum. We only attained what we now have little by little.

What is more important: to change the way males or females think?

Definitely also the way women think. Many lack courage and they do not trust one another. For example, many women do not like their female bosses. They think they’d prefer a male. But women, too, also have to primarily develop the awareness of a goal: I want to make it to the top, I want to be a part of the way society is shaped.

Do many men come to the Women’s Museum?

They come alone and at the weekend, while women tend to come together on weekdays in coaches. But, generally women tend more to go to art museums and men to science museums.

Do you have more male or female friends in your personal circle?

My women friends are more important to me, but we let the men come along.