Gilbert & George

George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit

About this artwork

This ‘magazine sculpture’ was published in the journal Studio International in 1970, where it was shown in black and white with the offending words censored. Gilbert & George have described this work as an attempt to pre-empt criticism of themselves: "we knew there was a battle ahead and we wanted to be in there first, long before somebody could say we weren’t good artists, we couldn’t draw or we couldn’t paint, long before all that criticism began, we had already attacked ourselves, called ourselves 'a Shit and a Cunt'”.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
  • title:
    George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit
  • date created:
    1969
  • materials:
    2 photographs, colour, on paper on printed paper
  • measurements:
    30.50 x 48.40 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund, 2008
  • accession number:
    AR00170
  • gallery:
  • glossary:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George