48 Questions
What is considered the first major work of feminist art history?
Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.” (1971)
How did Maura Reilly describe Linda Nochlin’s work?
A dramatic feminist rallying cry
What did Linda Nochlin's essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.”, precipitate?
A paradigm shift within the discipline of art history
Where did Linda Nochlin grow up?
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
In the late 19th century, women were excluded from which type of classes?
Life drawing classes
Which woman artist was represented as an effigy in a group portrait due to the presence of a nude male model?
Angelica Kaufmann
What did etiquette guides and literature of the time portray painting as for women?
A modest, proficient hobby
Who specialized in equine and bovine scenes and wore trousers to study animals?
Rosa Bonheur
Which successful French women artists were often pitted against each other and subjected to rumors?
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
Who felt the need to justify her unconventional artistic choices and appearance?
Rosa Bonheur
What was the most extraordinary feature of Nochlin’s essay?
Its encouragement of a multi-disciplinary approach to art history
What significant event marked the year 1970 for the Women’s Liberation movement?
Passing of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the US House
What was the immediate reaction to Nochlin’s article in ArtNews?
Decidedly mixed
What did de Kooning and Drexler have markedly different reactions to?
Including women in exhibitions
What did Nochlin’s essay inspire countless artists and scholars to do?
Embark on their own fields of inquiry
What does Eleanor Heartney's 2015 tribute to Nochlin's essay suggest about its relevance?
It highlights sad things about contemporary culture
How do feminist art historians view feminist art history?
As not having a monolithic methodology but as having different feminist art histories
What is one common maxim generally held to be true about feminist art history?
There is no such thing as a feminist art history, rather there are feminist art histories
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' stands as one of the first major strides into what discipline?
Post-structuralist rejection of binary oppositions
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' inspired a discourse on what kind of discrimination?
'Structural and systemic' discrimination
What was the title of the seminar that Griselda Pollock restructured to focus on The Image of Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries?
Art 364b
Where did Griselda Pollock earn her PhD in art history?
New York University's Institute of Fine Arts
In what year was Griselda Pollock's essay 'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' first published?
1971
What was the title of the 1801 portrait featured in the ArtNews issue with Griselda Pollock's essay?
Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes
What was the focus of the seminar that Griselda Pollock restructured in the late 1960s?
The Image of Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Where did Griselda Pollock begin teaching art history in the late 1960s?
Vassar College
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock was inspired by which literature?
Second-wave feminist literature
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock covered the ongoing need for which field of study?
Feminist art history
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock argued against which commonplace assumption?
The white, Western male viewpoint is the accepted viewpoint in art history
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock believed that feminist art history could serve as a catalyst for questioning fundamental assumptions in which fields?
Various fields
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock argued that feminist art history should be seen as an ongoing project, requiring thorough investigation into what aspects?
What did Nochlin criticize in art history?
The use of terms like 'genius' and 'great'
What did Nochlin reject the values of?
Greatness and genius
What did Nochlin observe about stories of artistic discovery?
They reflect and perpetuate attitudes
What was considered an essential artistic skill in the Renaissance through to the 19th century?
Drawing the nude
What did Nochlin attribute patterns in subject matter to?
Sociological factors, artistic expectations, or personal predilection
What did Nochlin focus on in the latter half of the essay?
Institutional exclusion and treatment of women artists
What did Nochlin criticize the terms 'genius' and 'great' for being loaded with?
Unquestioned, often unconscious, meta-historical premises
What did Nochlin reject due to their disregard for historical or sociological context and their patriarchal bias?
'Greatness' and 'genius'
What was the title of the seminar that Griselda Pollock restructured to focus on?
Art 364b: The Image of Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Where did Griselda Pollock earn her PhD in art history?
New York University's Institute of Fine Arts
What was the focus of the seminar that Griselda Pollock restructured in the late 1960s?
The Image of Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries
In what year was Griselda Pollock's essay 'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' first published?
1971
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' stands as one of the first major strides into what discipline?
Feminist Art History
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' by Griselda Pollock argued against which commonplace assumption?
The white, Western male viewpoint is the accepted viewpoint in art history
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' inspired a discourse on what kind of discrimination?
Discrimination against women artists in art history
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' by Griselda Pollock believed that feminist art history could serve as a catalyst for questioning fundamental assumptions in which fields?
Various fields
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.' covered the ongoing need for which field of study?
Feminist Art History
Study Notes
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Women were excluded from life drawing classes until late 19th century.
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When women were admitted, they were often supervised by men and models were draped.
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Angelica Kaufmann, an exceptional woman artist, was represented as an effigy in a group portrait due to the presence of a nude male model.
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Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard were two successful French women artists, often pitted against each other and subjected to rumors.
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Many successful women artists were daughters of artist fathers or had close personal connections with dominant male artistic figures.
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In the 19th century, women began to assert their independence in art, leading to the stereotype of "the lady painter."
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Etiquette guides and literature of the time portrayed painting as a modest, proficient hobby for women, which perpetuated patriarchal advantages.
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Rosa Bonheur, one of the most successful women painters, specialized in equine and bovine scenes and wore trousers to study animals.
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Bonheur's career coincided with the decline of history painting and the rise of middle-class patronage.
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Bonheur felt the need to justify her unconventional artistic choices and appearance, creating a psychoanalytic approach to art history by scrutinizing her attitudes.
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In 2015, artist and historian Griselda Pollock (Nochlin) discussed her experience at a women's college in a 2015 interview, stating women had equal opportunities as there were no gendered margins.
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Nochlin earned a master's degree in English literature from Columbia University in 1952 and her PhD in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts in 1965.
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In the late 1960s, Nochlin began teaching art history at Vassar College. Her life-changing encounter with second-wave feminist literature helped shape her perspective.
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Nochlin restructured her upcoming seminar, "Art 364b," to focus on The Image of Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Topics included 'Woman as angel and devil,' 'Pornography and sexual imagery,' and 'The theme of the prostitute.'
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Nochlin's essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" was first published in ArtNews in 1971, following her research with students and inspiration from feminist literature.
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The ArtNews issue featuring Nochlin's essay covered an 1801 portrait of "Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes," which was later reattributed multiple times, and emphasized the ongoing need for feminist art history.
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Nochlin argued that feminist art history should not be seen as a mere corrective but as an ongoing project, requiring thorough investigation into provenance, history, and reasons for misattribution and neglect.
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Nochlin believed that feminist art history could serve as a catalyst for questioning fundamental assumptions, providing links to other radical approaches in various fields.
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Nochlin argued against the commonplace assumption that the white, Western male viewpoint is the accepted viewpoint in art history, and saw her mission as proving this perspective to be objectionable on moral, ethical, and intellectual grounds.
Explore Linda Nochlin's thought-provoking essay and her curation of high-profile exhibitions featuring work by women artists. Learn about the controversies surrounding her views and the impact of her exhibitions on art history.
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