“HerStory”: Girls Who Paint Curator’s Note
Winston Churchill once said, “History is written by victors”. Today our “victors” are not only those who have won great wars and battles, but those who held privilege in our society. Art history does not exist in a vacuum of romanticized liberalism, expression, and inclusivity; it has been afflicted with classism, racism, and sexism. Our great masters all look the same: white, rich, and male. Thanks to the “public service messages”by the Guerilla Girls, many of the voices that have been ignored throughout art history have now gained their voices. From Artemisia Gentileschi, Ana Mendieta, Frida Khalo, Alma Thomas, and many more trailblazers, we celebrate these women and their contributions to art and culture. We celebrate the voices of those as we discuss the male gaze, deconstructing patriarchy, finding autonomy, and finding beauty through their eyes.
The 1971 essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” by Linda Nochlin, spearheaded the recognition of great women in art history. The issue was that they were historically invisible and disproportionately underrepresented due to systematic gatekeeping in art education, opportunities, and patronage.
In the field of art history, the white Western male viewpoint, unconsciously accepted as the viewpoint of the art historian, may—and does—prove to be inadequate not merely on moral and ethical grounds, or because it is elitist, but on purely intellectual ones. In revealing the failure of much academic art history, and a great deal of history in general, to take account of the unacknowledged value system, the very presence of an intruding subject in historical investigation, the feminist critique at the same time lays bare its conceptual smugness, its meta-historical naïveté. At a moment when all disciplines are becoming more self-conscious, more aware of the nature of their presuppositions as exhibited in the very languages and structures of the various fields of scholarship, such uncritical acceptance of “what is” as “natural” may be intellectually fatal. -Lina Nochlin (1971)
There were no art schools readily accessible for women, but only a few private institutions that only wealthy class women were able to afford. Within these institutions, education was limited due to grounds of decency. Against all odds, women became professional artists living in a world dominated by customs and laws designed to keep them in their place.
Women artists working prior to the 1970s Feminist Movement, have been broadening the possibilities of art through experimentation with materials to express their narratives; their work challenged our understanding of gender and identity. Alas, gender discrimination within the arts continues to plague us as we now have more clarity of the glass ceiling women artists face. In a 2018 study, out of 18 major U.S. art museums found their collections are 87% male and 85% white (Topaz et al, 2019); and women in the arts are earning $20,000 less than their male counterparts per year. (Lindemann et al, 2016)In spite of all things that hinder women artists, whether it be wealth disparities, gender discrimation, or racial intolerance, they persevere for their stories to be heard. We celebrate them as they discuss motherhood, contemplate identity, asstering their bodily autonomy, and the innocence of girlhood. Let’s continue the efforts that many organizations, galleries, scholars, and institutions have contributed to the advancement and visibility of women artists. Let’s continue to share her stories.
Work Cited
Chapman, Caroline. 2018. Review of The Female Gaze Made Flesh. History Today 5, no. 68 (May): 65–77.
“Get the Facts about Women in the Arts.” 2019. NMWA. October 22, 2019. https://nmwa.org/support/advocacy/get-facts/.
Kaplan, Isaac. 2016. “Nearly $20,000 Wage Gap between Men and Women Working in the Arts, Study Finds.” Artsy. November 21, 2016. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-new-study-finds-women-in-arts-make-almost-20-000-less-than-men.
Lindemann, Danielle J., Carly A. Rush, and Steven J. Tepper. 2016. “An Asymmetrical Portrait: Exploring Gendered Income Inequality in the Arts.” Social Currents 3 (4): 332–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329496516636399.
Nochlin, Linda. 2015. “From 1971: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Artnews.com. May 30, 2015. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/retrospective/why-have-there-been-no-great-women-artists-4201/.
