Week 5 - Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?
This week’s reading was about the age-old question, particularly in the last century of why there have been no great women artists. When I think about this question without having to read this article, my natural response is that it is because we live in a male-dominated world (specifically a European male-dominated world). Up until recently, men have been the ones that give attention to the constructs of what is considered genius artwork. Within the last century, women have had to fight for their rights to be considered equal to men, nevertheless, it is still a fight. With this fight, women have had the opportunity to do things like play in male-dominated sports, work alongside men in the workforce, and vote. Regardless, even to this day attention is primarily given to the male gender when it comes to many disciplines.
According to Nochlin, in order to address this question, it takes a feminist to pierce through the cultural and ideological limitations of the art world. Their critique will reveal biases and inadequacies. Nochlin also goes on to state that a feminist asserts various types of greatness for women's art rather than men's, that there is a feminine style, differing in manner and formal expression based on a woman’s experience. However, there are artists like Renoir and Monet who many may consider famine in quality. Monet for instance made impressionist-style paintings that featured a woman and child as a subject matter. Not to mention the light colors and soft brush strokes. So to say that women have different styles than men is simply not true. What may be considered to be masculine, women have been able to accomplish. Elaine de Kooning is a woman artist that made paintings that fall under the category of abstract expressionism.
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| Elaine de Kooning - BullFight 1959 |
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| The Cradle - Camille with the Artist's Son Jean, 1867 |
In this article, Nochlin mentioned that there have not only been no great women artists but also no great aristocrat artists. Why is this? You would figure that an aristocrat would have the resources and time to become great, but typically they are your patrons of the art field. We discussed in class, that it is because an aristocrat’s role is to make connections and they do not do work that is below them such as becoming a master chef, a world-known doctor, or a genius artist, regardless of what resources they have at their fingertips.
Nochilin defined great art as a consistent language of form that is defined by conventions that have been learned or worked out through study apprenticeships or long periods of individual experimentation. With that said, women were typically not allowed in art schools, and any woman that was able to ascertain the art skill was usually taught by their artist father (for example Artemisia Gentileschi). When women were in the art studio they were not able to view male nudes as this was considered too harsh for a woman’s eye. If a woman were to pose for an artist they usually had a drape and was accompanied by a chaperone. I find that Nochlin’s argument as to why there have not been many great women makes sense. If they were not given the opportunity then how are they to gain that skill? This essay gave me a new perspective as to why there has been no great women artist. Nochlin brought to light that the disparities begin with education and institutions. Once this was addressed women have been able to create great art but to give them credit is still an ongoing issue.
Source:
Kooning, Elaine de. “Bullfight.” Obelisk Art History. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/elaine-de-kooning/bullfight/.
“The Cradle - Camille with the Artist's Son Jean.” Art Object Page. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61375.html.
Nochlin, Linda. Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?. Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness. ArtNews. 1971. Accessed 20 September 2021.
Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteI liked your explanation of masculine and feminine style when it comes to art work and that it does not have to be a female artist to be a feminine work of art. It is frustrating that in the last hundred years we have not made more progress but there has been some good change. Women are able to do a lot more than before and even in the last 20 years artistic opportunities for women have grown. Do you think that in the next century that we will make strides towards equality in art?
-Cayla
Hi Cayla,
DeleteThank you for your feedback. I honestly cannot tell you what might happen in the next century. Since the pandemic, it seems the world is unpredictable and in fact we might be going backwards with our social issues. Especially when it comes to race. I hope that women will continue to be considered equals in the future, but it is hard to say anymore.
Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteI liked your summary of the article we read. You brought up some good examples from the text for why women have been held back for so many years. I would add too, that because kings and queens as well as the religious elite were in the position to commission the artists, they were also the ones who decided what good art is, and who could create it. I am grateful that Catherine de Medici enjoyed ballet or we might not know anything about it. It makes me wonder what styles of dance, art, music and architecture the world has missed out on because the power structures didn't think it was worthy. Surely many women, minorities and members of the LGBTQ community lost out on important commissions and opportunities because they didn't fit the mould.
I liked how you pointed out that women and men don't necessarily have different styles in how they paint, and I thought you provided really good examples of that. Do you agree with Nochlin's idea that it takes a feminist to break through the cultural and idealogical barriers of the art world? Are women the only ones who can critique the biases and inadequacies? I think not, but maybe in the 1970's they were best suited for the job.
I only saw one mistake in your writing; you used the word famine in the second paragraph where I think you meant feminine. Nice post!
Hi Meg,
DeleteThank you for bringing the spelling error to my attention. I did not think about how the elite (such as kings and queens) were the ones in the position to define great art. I don't really agree Nochlin's idea that it takes a feminist to breakthrough cultural and idealogical barriers. I believe anyone can, it just takes someone that has does not have biases from our society and institutions.
Hey Yvonne! Your summary of the article was really well done and you had a different understanding from me which helped me understand the reading even better. This box that has been created by the domination of white men makes it impossible to be at the standard they hold others to. One simply cannot be a 'great' anything, that box has made it where one is a great female doctor or other examples, one simply cannot be a great artist. There is constantly that label being placed to separate anyone that is different from the white man.
ReplyDeleteExactly, the box was created by powerful white male that made it difficult for others to fit into. Unfortunately, I believe that the world is still dominated by powerful white male and it is going to be a continued fight to bring these biases to the light and to break through them.
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