Week 5
This week, we read Linda Nochlins "Why are there no great women artists?". In her paper she describes the roles women have played in art and, well, why there were no great women artists. One of the main reasons women artists were not as prominent, was due to men's education. Even male children were likelier to receive an education compared to women. "Michelangelo himself, according to his biographer and pupil, Vasari, did more drawing than studying as a child; Picasso passed all the examinations for 8 ART AND SEXUAL POLITICS entrance to the Barcelona Academy of Art in a single day when only fifteen." Women could be educated in art, provided their family was very well of enough to afford their private education, though this was not as common as men. Another reason women were not taken seriously in the art world was due to their sexual value placed on them by men. " At a moment when all disciplines are becoming more self-conscious—more aware of the nature of their presuppositions as exhibited in their own languages and structures—the current uncritical acceptance of "what is" as "natural" may be intellectually fatal." Womens role in art was merely seen as a hobby, while for men it was seen as a career. Thanks to the internet, conditions for women have changed from the 1800s to now, as it is much easier to discover women artists than when men dominated the art scene. Though this has led to the role of an artist being seen as a hobby as opposed to a career, though in my opinion, this was well worth the exchange.
Jacopo Amigoni, Jael and Sisera, 1739
Linda Nochlin, “Why have there been no great women artists?” 1971
Considering we know that humans have been creating art for over 40.000 years I'm interested o know what period of time you are referring to in your piece and what evidence do you have to back up your claim that white men quickly ignored or destroyed art that was made in Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, North and South America? My advice would be to consider restricting your comments to the period of European and American colonization of Africa and Asia and perhaps consider whether we are only discussing European Art traditions. You should consider there are seven continents on earth and you're only talking about Europe, you could give an unbiased comparison to what people thought about art and women in art on the other six continents to see if they were any better or worse.
ReplyDeleteI've edited the post to include more sources and explain my points in a more clear and accurate way, that is not longer biased. Perhaps a re read will provide more perspective. Essentially, women in art could be given an education, provided they were born into the correct family. Despite this, they were still not seen as the same level as men due to how their possible career was seen more as a hobby, while among men, it was a job.
DeleteI have your same thoughts. If families of women gave more encouragement to their career of choice we would have more women in art. I see you point on men having more opportunity because of how women were seen in the nineteenth century. The sad reality is that most society believes thing are inherently male or female. If a man takes care of himself by getting manicures hes seen as more feminine and the same for women. To put a career as male or female is the mistake of the people so long ago as you mentioned its much easier to find artists and give them recognition. I'll concluded by saying your choice in art work is very powerful, more like this women is taking by force her place in the world.
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