ArtNews stirred up a lot of controversy over the last week by posting what appeared to be click-bait, but was actually an update to a conversation from 1971: Why have there been no great women artists? and then Eight artists reply….
Women are great artists, but Men have inspired the movements.
Yes, yes, I know. The title is offensive. Maddening. But certainly a valid question. Of course there have been amazing women artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo among others, but we speak of them in terms of their individual accomplishments and intriguing lives. When we speak of the greatest male artists, we tend to speak of them in terms of the art movements they inspired: Da Vinci and Michelangelo and the Renaissance, Van Gogh and Monet and the Impressionists, Rembrandt and the Romantics, Picasso and Cubism, Klimt and symbolism, Dali and Surrealism, Kandinsky and Abstract Art, Warhol and Pop art…notice they’re all men.
Unlike some if the commentors on the articles questioning why there are no female “greatest artists,” I prefer not to focus on the fact that women’s artwork was largely unappreciated until relatively recently (although this is undoubtedly true). One could argue that cultural male patriarchies made it difficult or impossible for women to succeed in art, but the truth is that most of the men didn’t really “succeed” either. Many lived and died in poverty and most only became famous posthumously.
I think it might be more appropriate to focus on what qualities made the men inspirational as artists. Perhaps the reasons are more primal? Perhaps the ability to inspire movemenents was an extension of the primal need to procreate and the warrior instinct to persevere in the face of the personal and societal rejection that most artists experience in some form. Maybe it was the compulsion to lead rather than follow.
Traditionally, women have been more needed in support roles. Their instincts were to nuture, socialize, and, if anything, “lead from behind.”
That was then, this is now.
Thankfully, we’re living at a unique time in history when both men and women in much of the world are able to explore and indulge their instincts to do all of this. We now know that both men and women can be good nuturers, and both can be fierce warriors. In the art world there is no longer a barrier to women being able to reach their full potential. Over the last century, women have been increasingly encouraged in their creative and artistic pursuits and the Internet has been an amazing rally point for women to get the support and resources they need in many industries, including art.
So, will future generations look back at the early 21st century, and study the works of the men AND WOMEN who were the leaders of the aftermoderism, virtual art, or mixed media art movements? Who will it be? I say, Go!