Why Are There No Great Female Artists?

When studying the history of art, even on a superficial level, it is easy to notice that emphasis is placed almost exclusively on art created by male artists. Prompted by this observation, art critic Linda Nochlin posed a crucial question in her monumental 1971 essay, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"

There are certainly some prominent names, like Frida Kahlo or the contemporary Yayoi Kusama. However, Nochlin's approach is different.

Frida Kahlo, Self portrait dedicated to Dr. Eloeser, 1940

Yayoi Kusama, Polka dots installation, 2016

For Nochlin, it is misguided for feminists to either try to unearth the accomplishments of female artists from the past or to argue for the existence of a distinct, female artistic style. She believes that there truly have not been female creators comparable to the great names of art history and that there are no common traits of femininity in art.

"As we all know, things as they are, and as they have been, in the arts as well as in hundreds of other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those—among whom are women—who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably of the middle class, and, above all, male. The fault lies not in our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education. In fact, the miracle lies in the fact that, given the conditions against women and people of color, so many from both groups have managed to achieve and truly excel in fields like Science, Politics, or the Arts, which have been dominated by white male privilege."

The essay skillfully engages with the very notion of what constitutes great art, emphasizing the difficulty of clearly defining its nature. Certainly, there are works widely accepted as masterpieces, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Pablo Picasso's Guernica, but why have these works been considered masterpieces, while others are judged to be of lesser artistic value?

Art history is filled with examples where great painters have demonstrated their genius from a very young age. There are also many stories where an achievement is shaped into a miracle, creating a myth around artists and a magical aura around works of art, linking personalities such as Raphael, Van Gogh, and Pollock under the title of genius.

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503

On the other hand, factors such as the conditions in which the artist lived and created (which are of major importance to their work's trajectory) tend to be of secondary importance. The idea of the mythical "golden nugget" of the artist takes precedence. Taking this as a given, we are faced with the following reasoning: if women had the golden nugget of artistic genius, it would have been revealed. But it has never been revealed. Therefore, women do not have the golden nugget of artistic genius.

However, if we take a calm and objective look at the conditions under which great art is created, the real questions that art historians face cover a completely different spectrum than that of genius. For instance, one could ask, to which socioeconomic class did most artists belong throughout art history? To which castes? To which subgroups? What percentage of great artists came from families with ties to painting or sculpture?

All women artists, no matter how different, are connected in some way. A common point of identification is that they all made a breakthrough into a profession where they had no part in designing the rules. They adapted and worked in a world where all the norms were defined by men.

Art historian Frances Borzello also notes, "Women artists were intruders in the artistic world, a male world that claimed to be open to anyone with talent but, in practice, did very little to welcome women."

You can find Linda Nochlin's full essay here:
http://users.uoi.gr/gramisar/prosopiko/markatou/Linda_Nochlin.pdf