Event series March 2004

Artistic work by women under a male pseudonym

As part of the "echtfalsch" event series, FIFTITU% presented women from literature, music, the visual arts and science who have worked or are still working under a male pseudonym.

Under the title "Hidden Women", the biographies and works of these female artists were presented, whose works were published under a male pseudonym or even appropriated by brothers, husbands and false boyfriends.

Reasons for female artists to use a male pseudonym were and are, for example, better conditions for fee negotiations, increased opportunities in calls for proposals and, in earlier times, the
Opportunity to present their own work to the public.

Some women in France and England succeeded in gaining a legendary reputation under their pseudonym (e.g. George Sand, George Eliot), even if their real names are hardly known today.

The end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century was a time of great literary creativity in the German-speaking world. A wide variety of motives prompted a growing number of female writers to use a male pseudonym for their work, initially but also consistently.

The best-known motive was the rebellion against the female role, which manifested itself, for example, in adopting any male name, e.g. Emilie Mataja = Emil Marriot, but also names of male role models worth emulating, such as Bertha Eckstein-Diéner = Sir Galahad. Both deliberately used a pseudonym during their literary career.

Commercial calculations to earn more money as a (male) writer - or to earn any money at all in this genre - also played a role. The fear of negative criticism was often the driving force behind the use of a pseudonym. One example of this was Bertha von Suttner, who only used the pseudonym - Someone - in her first publication and became world-famous after further publications.

Hidden Women I (lecture-vernissage-exhibition):
Would Lucile-Aurore Dupin have become as famous as George Sand?
Biographies of female artists who have worked under a male pseudonym.

Vernissage: March 12, 04, 19:00h, Altes Rathaus, Hauptplatz 1, 4020 Linz;
Lecture Dr. Lisa Fischer, 18.30h: "Code name male - product female. Female artists and the function of male pseudonyms - a never-ending story?"

Exhibition duration 12.3.04 to 26.3.04

Hidden Women II (Music Literature):
"Who was Sir Galahad?" Musical and literary works by women under a male pseudonym;

March 19, 2004, 7.30 pm, Brucknerhaus Linz, Middle Hall, Untere Donaulände 7, 4010 Linz

To be heard are texts by

• Bertha Eckstein-Diener - pseudonym Sir Galahad
• Emilie Mataja - pseudonyms Emil Marriot, Hugo Valentin
• Maria Janitschek - pseudonym Marius Stein recitation: Eike Baum

As well as compositions by

• Silvia Sommer - pseudonym Philipp Moro, lives in Lower Austria
• Nancy van de Vate - pseudonym William Huntley, lives in Vienna
• Rebecca Clarke - pseudonym Anthony Trent, (1886-1979)
• Mary Dickenson-Auner - pseudonym Frank Donell,(1880-1965)

The compositions are interpreted by an ensemble of female musicians:

• Andrea Stumbauer - soprano
• Christine Mayr - violin
• Regine Tittgen-Fuchs - piano
• Daniela Ivanova - viola (winner of the women's art prize/music section 2003)
• Donka Angacheva - piano