Why have there been no great women artists?

Linda Nochlin

Feminist

Major works: ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ (1972)

-      Feminist critique needs to address discipline as a whole and challenge every accepted assumption of the field.

-      Argues it is problematic to find women and put them in the canon, resurrect them. It reinforces negative implications, supporting notion that great woman artists is rare and an exception to general rule of genius as a male preserve

-      She also argues there is ‘no subtle essence of femininity’ nothing that connects female artworks. Artemisia’s work has more in common with male contemporaries than other work by female artists

-      She says there is no female equivalent to Michelangelo because women have been denied access to aert institutions and haven’t had access to art world

-      Women’s apparent failure in the field of art is not a question of individual characteristics, but rather institutional prejudice and practical obstacles.