Take Aways:

Introduction

Alice Neel (1900-1984), painting of Linda Nochlin (Why are there no great women artists) and Daisy 1973. Author of “Why have there been no great women artists?”.
Unrepresentative of women artists, why? Subject of debate since 1970s. Since Nochlin’s essay, not much has changed.
List of female artists that most of us wouldn’t recognise.
2019 study showed that in collections of 18 major art museums, 87% of artworks were by men. (85% by white artists). 1% National Gallery collection by women artists. First female solo exhibition at National Gallery was in 2020 - Antemisia Gentileschi. 2023 first solo exhibition in main space at Royal Academy - Marina Abramovic.
Podcasts #thegreatwomenartists.com
To break down the stigma around elitism in art - art can be for anyone, and anyone can be part of the conversation.
Hessel doesn’t believe there is any ‘different’ about work created by artists of a particular gender, it’s more that society and its gatekeepers have always prioritised one group in history.
Hessel’s book takes its title from EH Gombric’s The Story of Art. The ‘bible’ to art history. !950 edition contained no women artists, sixteenth edition contains only one.
If we aren’t seeing art by a wide range of people, we aren’t really seeing society, history or culture as a whole.
Progress is happening. Collective effort of actively engaged artists, art historians, scholars and curators around the world.
Women now in top-tier positions in museums.
In past decade, we have seen huge number of ‘art corrections’ take place. Numerous exhibitions dedicated to women painters, sculptors, etc.
Jenny Saville’s Propped, 1992 (highest price at auction for living female artists) only 12% of same price achieved by a man, David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures) 1972.

‘Because while the statistics remain so shocking, it feels important to remove the clamour of men in order to listen carefully to the significance of other artists to our cultural histories.’

‘To avoid artists only being seen as the wife of, the muse of, the model of, or the acquantaince of, I have situated them within their social and political context, in the time in which they lived.

PART FOUR: Taking Ownership 1970-2000.

Women’s Liberation in the contemporary sphere.

1970s marked revolutionary era for institutions (NB Nochlin),
Staged all women exhibitions, feminist focused education programmes, expanded ideas around Conceptualism and Performance Art, while dismantling traditional art spaces.
Nochlin quote regarding the fight to also recognise women artists of the past, those historically excluded.

Chapter 12: The Era of Feminism.

Faith Ringgold quote 2005. ‘I became a feminist because I wanted to help my daughters, other women and myself aspire to something more than a place behind a good man’.
Equal Rights Act (1972)
NY Ad Hoc committee of Women Artists established in 1970s. (Faith Ringgold, Poppy Johnson and Lucy Lippard), campaigned for Whitney Museum of American Art to feature 50% women artists and for 50% of that number to be black.
1976 Women Artists: 1550-1950, curated by art historians Ann Sutherland and Linda Nochlin, at LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Demonstrated the legitimate long history of women artists like Gentileschi, and Sofonisba Anguissola.

The Story of Art - Without Men, Katy Hessel, (2022) Introduction