Toward a history of Women in the Arts
lecture outline:
I. Why have there been no great women artists?
- assumptions behind the question - possible reactions:
a. swallow the bait
b. -a different kind of greatness
c. - Nochlin's choice: examine conditions generally productive of great art
(denied to women)
-- cult of genius (golden nuggets) -- institutions and education
II. other takes on women and artmaking:
A. alternative woman's tradition: understanding Art vs craft
-- historical examples: Quilting and embroidery
-- contemporary examples: faith ringgold story quilts
-- wedding dress art (Lorraine and karyn church)
B. an essential female power: core imagery
C. subverting the 'male gaze': feminists do nudes
-- examples: kiss and tell, in the mirror, Annie Sprinkle
D. Analyzing social circumstances: how do women look?
example: Deconstructing femininity: Orlan
Questions from last week:
How have women subverted the social structures that oppress them and the traditional
forms that define the limits of their work? What is feminist art trying to accomplish?
How do we recognize art that is feminist?
What are the benefits and what are the drawbacks to focussing on traditional
artmaking -- like quilting?
Why might it have been easier to have been a great women writer rather than
a visual artist?
How does feminist art subvert the male gaze?
How does sexuality and race figure in this euqation? ((how) can we subvert the
white gaze? The heterosexual gaze?)
(How) do women artists working with the female form (Kiss and Tell, "In the
Mirror", Orlan etc.) subvert traditional art practices?
readings: Linda Nochlin "Why Have there been
No Great Women Artists?" (Kit)
web resources:
