Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? by Linda Nochlin

Nochlin argues that these types of educational institution were not available to woman as readily as men. Every artist was a student or apprentice to a different artist and some also had a family background of artists. It is incorrect to assume that great artists are born great, and that they are a type of genius who are born with mysterious powers which makes them great artists.

She argues that it is incorrect to believe that art is different from any other field that requires proper training and opportunities. The reason that there have not been great women in art, according to Nochlin has to do with the lack of opportunities for women in the art. In addition, in the same way that great women writers, such as Sylvia Plath and Bronte’s style of writing is comparable to that of their male counterparts, women artists can be compared to men artists in their respective time periods. It is incorrect to say that these examples do have greats, because it is a fact that they do not. there are no great Lithuanian jazz players or Eskimo tennis players. There are many other examples of different arbitrary groups that do not have any greats, e.g. Nochlin argues that it is incorrect to state that great women artists are different than great men artists.

Nochlin dismisses both of these approaches to the question because they do not address the essence of the question. On the other end of the spectrum, the feminist approach to explain why there is are no great female artists is that women create a different kind of great art. On one side of the spectrum, the sexist theory for why there are no great female artists is that human beings with wombs are unable to create anything that is significant. Nochlin’s article discusses the question and theories that attempted to answer: “why have there been no great women artists.” Nochlin dismisses the vast array of theories to answer the question, from the extremely sexist to the feminist theories.

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? by Linda Nochlin