With much interest I read the essay of Linda Nochlin. In her essay (see full text below), she reports on her investigation into the why of traditional assumptions about the role of women in art. She wondered:
- Where the women were in art history books;
- Where the women were in art;
- Where the great women artists were.
She concluded that the absence of great women artists was not due to a lack of talent, but rather to structural barriers in society, such as the way art was judged and valued, and the historical and social context in which art was produced. She calls for a revision of these assumptions and a recognition of the complex factors that have contributed to the marginalization of women in art history.
How was it?
Art was long considered a mysterious gift, inherent in a few ‘great artists’, mostly men, with divine inspiration, but this idea ignores the social and institutional context in which art was produced.
Recent research in art history therefore challenges these conventional views. Deep-rooted social norms and structures have also prevented women from fully participating in and being recognized in the art world. These institutional barriers were in fact a systematic discrimination against women, especially in 19th-century in France. Women were excluded from academic education and the Salon. It is clear that the art world was a male-dominated space where women were marginalized both professionally and socially.
And how is it now?
According to Linda Nochlin, it is an enormous, universal conspiracy to obscure the female artist. According to her, there is a huge academic effort to make women as individuals invisible, regardless of their artistic merits or lack thereof.
She describes:
- the unwillingness of many curators and critics to treat female artists as individuals who could overshadow male artists as competitors or even keep pace with them;
- the reluctance of many feminist art critics to recognize the work of women unless it meets very specific feminist criteria;
- the reluctance of the feminist art movement to acknowledge the differences between women, some of which are vital to their artistic expression;
- that women, despite the enormous achievements of the feminist movement of the last twenty years, are still distracted by the pursuit of the highest levels of artistic achievement.
What’s wrong with the desire to be a great artist?
According to Linda Nochlin, there is a lot wrong with women’s desire to be, like men, the great painters of this time.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to paint great paintings or to become a painter.
But there is something wrong if women want to paint like men, because there is something wrong with men as they are, or at least with the way men and women are judged and interpreted in art history.
There is something wrong with the ideas of what a great work of art is, and there is something wrong with the ideas of what a great work of art by a woman would be.
There is something wrong with the ideas about women’s art, and there is something wrong with women’s artistic ideas. Should the way women artists are thought of change?
Change
Linda Nochlin feels that women should shift their ambitions in the first place: not to strive for the ‘highest’ levels of artistry as established by the male tradition, but rather for the highest levels of artistic expression, regardless of the nature of the work or the medium or technique or style, because there are no ‘highest’ levels of artistry; there is just artistic expression, and that expression is unique to each person who achieves it. Women should also stop thinking that they have to be great artists to create great works, or to say important things, or to do something important; women should stop comparing themselves to men in artistry and instead measure themselves by their own standards, and try to be themselves, to represent themselves in art, and not to imitate men.
For this, and everything else, a radical change of thinking is needed, a change that is not possible without a radical change in the circumstances that have shaped our thinking, and that is not possible without a radical change in the art world, and the world.
The suppression of the potential of artists, especially women, according to Linda Nochlin, has a harmful impact on imagination and society at large. She encourages a change in thinking and fighting for equality in the art world, and it is important to fight for it as women, as artists, as people.
Here you can read the Essay written by Linda Nochin
Johanna
