1. Why Are There No Great Women Artists?
Matthew Vital
GE20710: Aesthetics
Professor Philip Zuchman
Spring, 2012

2. About the Author:
Linda Nochlin
• Professor
– Modern Art at the
Institute of Fine Arts,
NYU
• Women's liberation
journals
• Feminist Art Theory
– 1971 publication
– Feminine Artists &
Historians
– “Feminist gaze”

3. Controversial Topic
• Talents & abilities
– Vs. societal attitudes
– Vs. discrimination
• Passive (M)
• Aggressive-Frustrated
(W)

4. “Incapable of Greatness”
• Male standards
– M vs. W
• Feminine style
– Stereotypical subject
Matter (No correlation)
– i.e. Domestic, children

5. What is Art?
What Makes it “Great”?
• Personal life  visual • Genius
terms – Power embedded
• Language – Art history writings
– Myths
• Materialistic World
– High values

6. No Sufficient Investigation/Appreciation
• Same status quo • Training & practice
– Achievement? – Artistic occupation?
– Feminist fight? • Historical & critical
attitudes
– Writings?
• Social environment

7. Not “Influenced”…
• Previous artists
• Social Forces
• Development…
– Quality & integrity
– Social settings
– Acknowledgments

8. Lessons Learned
• Misperceptions
– Style
– Limitations
– Discrimination
• Ultimate goal
– WHY?

9. Works Cited
"Nochlin, Linda." Dictionary of
Art Historians. Web. 19 Apr.
2012.
<http://www.dictionaryofar
thistorians.org/nochlinl.htm
>.
Nochlin, Linda. "Why Are
There No Great Women
Artists?" Aesthetics: A
Reader in Philosophy of the
Arts. By David Goldblatt and
Lee B. Brown. 3rd ed. Upper
Saddle River: Prentice Hall,
2011. 42-47. Print.