Diversity in Art

The Urgent Need for Diversity in the Art World

• Black artists only make up 1.2% of collections in 18 of America's most respected museums, despite comprising 13% of the population.
• Works by Asian artists only total 9% of collections, and Hispanic and Latinx artists only about 3%, despite comprising 18% of the population.
• Non-white or Hispanic people made up nearly 36% of the U.S. workforce, but only 25% of the artist workforce from 2012 to 2016.
• From 2008-2018, only 11% of all work acquired by the country’s top museums was by women, and only 14% of museum exhibitions represented female artists.
• Works by women comprised only 2% of art sold at auction from 2008-2018.
• Racially marginalized women were the least represented, with work by African-American women making up just 3% of the market for women-produced art.
• Large scale research projects about trans and queer representation in the art world are scarce to nonexistent.
• Only 1.2% of work in New York galleries was by Latinx artists, despite being the U.S.’s largest minority group, comprising around 18% of the population.
• Curators, even today, just aren’t seeking out work by minorities, with only 2.37% of acquisitions and gifts from 30 prominent museums being by African American artists.
• The lack of diversity in the top museums reflects the limited, often Euro-centric lens through which much of these collections are curated.
• Art4Equality, The Feminist Art Project, The Professional Organization for Women in the Arts and ArtTable, and The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art are organizations working towards a more equitable art community.
• The onus of representation lies with those with power in the art world, and those who choose wield their institutions to challenge narrow-minded industry standards are more vital than ever.

Take this quiz to learn about the urgent need for diversity in the art world. Discover shocking statistics about underrepresented groups in museums, galleries, and the artist workforce. Explore the lack of representation for women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community. Find out about organizations working towards a more equitable art community. Test your knowledge and become informed about the importance of diverse representation in the art world.