Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem Dies At 92

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Gloria Steinem, the renowned feminist activist who significantly advanced the modern women's movement, has died at 92 years old. Her passing was confirmed in an Instagram post, which did not specify a cause of death.

The post detailed that Steinem dedicated her later years to engaging with communities and writing. It stated that she“welcomed hundreds of guests into her living room for Talking Circles, a tradition she insisted will continue long after she is no longer with us.” The statement also referenced her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, quoting her:“I have now lived for more than fifty years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone.” The post emphasized that this book, along with her commitment to transforming her home into a hub for social justice movements, are among the many contributions Steinem hoped would create lasting positive effects.

Steinem's influence extended widely across art, photography, and popular culture. She was portrayed by Kristie Alley in the 1985 film A Bunny's Tale, which was inspired by her article where she worked undercover as a Playboy Bunny to reveal the conditions for waitresses at Hugh Hefner's New York Playboy Club. More recently, she was depicted by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lulu Wilson, Alicia Vikander, and Julianne Moore in the 2020 biopic The Glorias, and by Rose Byrne in the FX miniseries Mrs. America during the same year.

Beyond her onscreen representations, Steinem forged friendships with many artists, notably Barbara Nessim, with whom she shared a home for six years. They met through Henry Wolf, an art director at Esquire, who was then dating Nessim, while Steinem was dating Wolf's assistant, Robert Benton. In a 2016 interview with i-D Magazine, Steinem reflected on their friendship, saying she learned from Nessim“how to look at form rather than function. She's so visual.”

Steinem also mentored and befriended fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz, writing the introduction for Leibovitz's 2016 exhibition“Women: New Portraits” at the Bayview Correctional Facility in New York. While Steinem generally withdrew from public life in her later years, artist Judy Chicago was a rare exception who could draw her out. Ann Philbin, former director of the Hammer Museum, recounted to The Art Newspaper that Steinem declined numerous invitations to the Hammer gala until she was asked to introduce Chicago, who was honored at the 2019 museum gala. Steinem expressed her admiration for Chicago, stating:“You can pretty much divide the art world, and certainly I can divide my life, into before and after Judy Chicago. We love you, we honor you. There's no one on earth I'd rather be introducing than Judy Chicago.”

In 2023, artist Marilyn Minter included Gloria Steinem among the women she admired in her solo exhibition at the LGDR gallery on East 89th Street in New York. Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Minter shared in a 2022 interview with ARTnews:“Do not give up hope. As Gloria Steinem, a self-proclaimed hopeaholic, regularly reminds us, it's vital that, despite it all, we act on our hopes every day.”

Steinem's 1983 bestseller, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, inspired the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition“Everyday Rebellions: Collection Conversations,” which ran from October 10, 2025, to July 5, 2026. According to the museum's website, the show“revealed how contemporary artists infuse daily life with mindful gestures of creative defiance. Much like Steinem's essays, Everyday Rebellions celebrates how individual choices can disrupt familiar narratives and reimagine resistance.”

Despite her many achievements, Steinem and her feminist message were not universally embraced. The Guardian reported that in the 1970s, Steinem was turned away from Georgia O'Keeffe's home in New Mexico. While Steinem admired O'Keeffe's paintings, O'Keeffe strongly opposed being labeled a“woman artist” and rejected the idea that her gender defined her work.

Source: ARTnews

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