Themes Anita de Monte Laughs Last Xóchitl González

The Erasure of Women Artists in Anita de Monte Laughs Last

The Thematic Claim

The central thematic claim regarding the erasure of women artists in Anita de Monte Laughs Last is that the art world systematically buries talented women — particularly women of color — through institutional gatekeeping, racial bias, and the active suppression by powerful men. This erasure is not passive neglect but an ongoing project that requires deliberate counteraction. The novel argues that recovery is possible only when those who recognize the injustice actively advocate for the erased artist’s work.

The Epigraph as a Framing Device for Erasure

The novel opens not with a character or scene but with a 1994 epigraph from Anthony F. Janson’s preface to History of Art, Volume II. Janson defends his decision to exclude non-Western artists by claiming his choice “favors universality over ethnocentricity.” This framing device immediately establishes that art historical significance is not an objective measure but a political decision. Janson’s logic — that excluding diverse voices somehow serves universality — mirrors the rationalizations used throughout the novel to dismiss Anita de Monte and artists like her. The epigraph shows that erasure begins at the level of canon formation, before individual artists even have a chance to be seen.

Anita de Monte: Erasure During Life and After Death

Anita’s first solo show in New York in 1978 exemplifies how her work was marginalized from the start. Her gallerist Leslie Golub organizes a panel discussion featuring two white men — including Jack Martin — as the central draw. Anita’s name appears smallest in the publicity. The room fills with men who came to hear Jack Martin “reaffirm their worldview: feminist art was unnecessary.” Anita directly challenges this from the audience, asking, “Does nobody have an issue with the fact that our conversation about feminist art practices involves two white men?” Her protest, while justified, marks her as ungrateful — an immigrant unwilling to accept her opportunity.

After Jack kills Anita, the erasure intensifies. His lawyers send a cease-and-desist letter to block her sister’s attempt to mount a retrospective. Tilly Barber, acting under pressure from Jack, makes calls to curators and journalists. She uses language like “a little bit of distance would allow the art world to heal” to convince institutions to postpone Anita’s shows. Anita’s ghost witnesses this and rages. The erasure is not passive but active — people make conscious choices to suppress her work.

The press coverage after Anita’s death compounds the erasure. Raquel Toro, researching Anita at the library, finds tabloid coverage focused on the crime rather than the art. She encounters racist language — “loony Latina,” “immigrant climber,” “Cuban art” as an insult. After five hours of reading about Anita’s death, Raquel realizes she has not yet looked at Anita’s work itself. The library holds only one catalog. When Raquel opens it, the images “spoke to something inside of her she had not ever seen in a piece of art: Of belonging, of embodying place.”

Raquel Toro: From Passive Student to Active Rectifier

Raquel’s journey in the novel parallels the reader’s education about erasure. She confronts her professor John Temple about his omission of Anita from his teaching on Jack Martin. Temple deflects, arguing that the murder trial is “not relevant to his art-making” and that Anita was a “minor artist.” Raquel counters by showing visual evidence — Anita’s influence visible in Martin’s post-death work. When Temple insists there is not enough scholarship to support her thesis, Raquel declares, “Then I’ll make it.” This marks her transformation from passive scholar to engaged seeker.

Belinda Kim, Raquel’s boss at the RISD Museum, represents the institutional counterforce to erasure. She tells Raquel, “Be angry at the system, Raquel, and then see how you can fix it.” Belinda takes Raquel’s reeducation as her personal project. When Belinda discovers documentation of an Anita de Monte land art piece at RISD, she writes to other museums asking if they too have her work. Anita’s ghost, watching this, feels her power return: “It was my art out in the world. Because when my art was in the world, so was I.”

Jack Martin’s Active Suppression

Jack works to maintain his own legacy at the expense of Anita’s. In 1987 he sends a cease-and-desist to block her retrospective, telling his team he wants to “reclaim his legacy and prove his genius.” Even in 1999, while negotiating a traveling retrospective, Jack resents being treated as an invalid and demands champagne, only to be haunted by Anita’s ghost. The novel shows that powerful men can leverage their reputations and resources to control the narrative while women must fight from beyond the grave to be seen.

Character and Symbol Connections

The characters embody different relationships to erasure:

  • Jack Martin represents the patriarchal system that destroys and then suppresses.
  • Tilly Barber represents complicity — those who know erasure is wrong but participate anyway.
  • John Temple represents institutional gatekeeping — the academic who decides what is worth teaching.
  • Raquel and Belinda represent the recovery project — those who actively work to correct erasure.
  • Anita’s ghost represents the persistence of the erased artist, who finds power through her art in the world.

Key symbols deepen this theme:

  • The silver sequins that fly as Anita dances the night she dies symbolize her vibrant, irrepressible energy.
  • The bat form Anita takes represents her ability to become visible and fight back against erasure. Old bat Roberto tells her that bat form requires her art to be active.
  • The ceiba tree connects Anita to her Cuban roots and her spirit — a place where her identity cannot be erased.
  • The song “Graceland” becomes a tool for Anita to reclaim joy and disrupt the art world’s control over her narrative.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel does not present a simple victim narrative. Anita’s ghost at first wants to push Jack down a staircase to his death but stops because her art has been restored by Raquel, lessening her anger. Erasure is not absolute — Anita’s art persists and is rediscovered, suggesting that while the system is powerful, it is not all-powerful.

Furthermore, the novel acknowledges that women can be complicit in erasing other women. Tilly is a woman, as are many of Jack’s defenders who use racist language against Anita. Anita reflects that had she been “pretty and blond,” the lily-white sisterhood would never have allowed her to be forgotten. This critique complicates a simple gender binary, showing that race and class status determine who gets protected. At the same time, women like Raquel and Belinda are the primary agents of recovery, suggesting that the solution to erasure lies in cross-racial solidarity and institutional change.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the novel use the Janson epigraph to establish the theme of erasure?

The epigraph shows how canon formation is a political act disguised as objective scholarship. Janson excludes non-Western artists while claiming his choice “favors universality over ethnocentricity.” This logic parallels how the art world dismisses Anita de Monte — her work is excluded not because of its quality but because it does not fit a constructed Western canon. The epigraph frames the entire novel as a critique of who gets to decide what art is significant and on what grounds.

2. What role does John Temple play in institutional erasure?

John Temple represents academic gatekeeping. He omits Jack Martin’s murder of Anita from his lectures, arguing it is not relevant to his art-making. When Raquel confronts him, he dismisses Anita as a “minor artist” and insists there is insufficient scholarship to support her thesis. Yet Temple also mentors Raquel, showing that erasure can coexist with genuine investment in individual students. His contradiction illustrates how institutional bias operates through seemingly neutral decisions about curriculum and canon.

3. How does Belinda Kim represent a counterforce to erasure, and what are the limitations of her approach?

Belinda actively works to recover erased artists. She tells Raquel, “Be angry at the system, Raquel, and then see how you can fix it.” She writes to other museums asking about Anita’s work and includes Anita’s land art in a figurative show. However, Belinda’s influence is limited to a small museum, and she cannot stop the wider art world from ignoring Anita. The novel suggests that both institutional advocacy and more radical forms of resistance — like Anita’s supernatural interventions — are necessary.

4. In what ways does the novel complicate the idea that women are simply victims of erasure?

The novel shows women as both victims and perpetrators. Tilly makes calls to cancel Anita’s show despite knowing it is wrong. The press and public include women who use racist language against Anita. The novel’s critique of the “lily-white sisterhood” shows that race and class status determine who gets protected. Women like Raquel and Belinda are also the primary agents of recovery, suggesting that the solution to erasure lies in cross-racial solidarity and institutional change.

5. How does the symbol of the bat connect to Anita’s fight against erasure?

The bat represents Anita’s ability to become visible and fight back. A bat tells her she can take physical form by first falling, and she gains the power to bite. When she transforms and attacks Tilly’s apartment, she realizes that her art — not memories or grief — sustains her spirit. The bat is both a weapon and a limitation: she loses bat form when her art is packed into storage, and Roberto tells her bat form requires her art to be active. When her art is visible, she has power; when it is hidden, she is powerless.