Shaping Art History as Women - Blog Post #2, Allie Stansbury
Shaping Art History as Women
Why have there been no great women artists? Linda Nochlin asked this question in 1971, though not in the way you may think. When we think of greatness, we tend to think of the talent that comes from each individual artist. The question Nochlin asks isn’t ‘why aren’t women good at art’, though, because that isn’t truly what is meant by the word greatness. Greatness in the art world “...overlooks the institutional and systematic barriers that have historically excluded women from artistic education, practice, and recognition” (Nochlin). She goes on to explain that women have been denied art education, and even recognition when it comes to their art since the beginning of time.
The ‘great artist’ is a myth, she says, one that is normally painted as a loner male artist who had access to whatever education he pleased, as well as recognition. Women’s roles throughout history have been strictly set in stone, prohibiting them from reaching for a professional level of anything, let alone art itself. She also explains that art history has mainly been written by men, favoring male artists and ignoring female artists all together. All of this to say that there have always been great women artists, we just haven’t been given the tools to learn about them. Instead, they’ve been swept into the past and their names are long forgotten.
One of the questions that Nochlin asks in her essay is,”What if Picasso would have been born a girl?” This question really sets the stage for the topic of women in art history, and has me pondering on how many great women artists society has missed out on simply due to the fact that they were failed by the system.
In looking further into this topic, Veronica Clements’ blog post On The Intersection of Art and Feminism, she states that,”A 2018 study of 13 major US art museums found that their collections are 87% male and 85% white. Just 24% of the 27,000 artists shown at art fairs in 2018 were women. Also, according to The National Endowments for the Arts, nearly half (46%) of artists are women, while they still are earning; on average, 74 cents to every dollar made by a male artist. This is despite the fact that women earn 70% of bachelor of fine arts and 65–75% of master of fine arts degrees in the U.S”. We are still falling under the influence of the past that swept so many women artists under the rug, simply because of their gender.
In saying this, I believe it is important to contribute to the rise of great women artists by talking about them and what makes them so great. Clements talks about Suzanne Valadon, a woman that started as a figure model, and later became known for her post-impressionistic art.
In this piece, titled The Blue Room, the subject is leisurely draped across the blue fabric, her eyes elsewhere, a cigarette in her mouth. The piece brings about an air of independence, something that fits snugly into the topic of women in the art field. The woman sits next to a pile of books, telling us that she is educating herself with a sense of purpose, a sense of confidence. Despite this piece being so moving, the woman is only briefly mentioned at The Art Institute of Chicago as a “friend of Toulouse-Lautrec”. Everything, it seems, has to relate back to a man in some way.
Hilma Af Klint is also discussed in the blog post, a woman who hosted seances and “painted her spiritual encounters in giant meditative works of art” (Clements). Despite Wassily Kandsinsky being credited for the creation of abstract art, Af Klint’s pieces show abstraction far before Kandinsky was in the spotlight. Yet again, another woman swept under the rug to acknowledge a man’s accomplishments.
This blog post isn’t about putting down the great male artists that we’ve been taught about since art class in grade school, rather, it's about making sure that we give credit to the women that may have done some of these things first, and have been forgotten with time due to failure of historical art authors. It’s worth it to dig a little deeper sometimes, to find out who really was the source of a certain art movement, or who really developed a new style of art and simply wasn’t given credit. All of this to say – appreciate the women artists around you, and uplift them as much as possible. Do not let yourself, or your girl friends be forgotten in art history.
Works Cited
Art. “Women Unite!” Women Unite!, 25 Apr. 2023, www.womenunitechicago.org/what-now/on-the-intersection-of-art-amp-feminism.
Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
Nochlin, Linda, and Linda Nochlin. “From 1971: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” ARTnews.com, 30 May 2015, www.artnews.com/art-news/retrospective/why-have-there-been-no-great-women-artists-4201.
Topaz, Chad M., et al. “Diversity of Artists in Major U.S. Museums.” PLOS ONE, vol. 14, no. 3, 20 Mar. 2019, arxiv.org/pdf/1812.03899.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212852.
“The Art Market 2023 — a Report by Art Basel & UBS.” Theartmarket.artbasel.com, theartmarket.artbasel.com.
Artists and Other Cultural Workers a Statistical Portrait.
“Taking Note: How about Those Undergraduate Arts Majors?” Www.arts.gov, www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2017/taking-note-how-about-those-undergraduate-arts-majors.
Steinhauer, Jillian. “Tallying Art World Inequality, One Gallery at a Time.” Hyperallergic, 27 Mar. 2014, hyperallergic.com/117065/tallying-art-world-inequality-one-gallery-at-a-time.
Accessed 1 Oct. 2025
Way before women had the right to vote, ability to work in the workforce, or even the right to an education, art classes were men only. The only way women could participate was through nude modeling for the classes. After that, women expressed themselves through “productive art” like sewing, weaving, things that would help around the house rather than help themselves grow more creatively. Men have had the advantage in the art world since day one and it’s the reason why there aren't very many “great artists” that are women. Nochlin asks, “What if Picasso was a girl” and the answer is easy, she would've made the exact same work but without any recognition. We would never know who Picasso was. Maybe we would recognize her husband for the work she made but he put out. Maybe she made the most intricate and cubist flower vase that has been passed down through generations of her children rather than sitting in a museum for millions of dollars. Don’t let women artists be forgotten in history and do not let your work be stifled by the world.
ReplyDeleteReading this passage made me think about the artworks I have seen and how, as mentioned in the text, most famous artists are men. This difference is especially clear in Eastern art. In my country, Korea, there is one of the few female painters known in history, Shin Saimdang, who was also the mother of the famous scholar Yulgok Yi I. Even though she was very talented, people still remember her more as “Yulgok’s mother” than as an artist. She is even on Korean money, not mainly because of her art, but because she represents the ideal image of a devoted mother. I still wonder why her achievements as an artist are often hidden by her role as a mother. I think we should pay more attention to the accomplishments of women artists and make sure their contributions are recognized.
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