Name:__________________________________
WORKSHEET FOR WEEK 12
Gender and Art History
In section this week, we will discuss whether an artist's gender matters. We will try to decide whether or not it is possible, or even desirable, to discover male or female ways of looking and painting.
Read Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" Focus in particular on the section beginning with "The Question of the Nude.” Answer the following questions.
1. Cite some of the answers Nochlin provides to her question, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?.” In particular, what are the social obstacles that women have faced in becoming artists?
2. On pages 153-158 of her article, Nochlin questions the traditional notions of artistic "greatness." She notes that we tend to believe in the idea of genius and think of artists as god-like or superhuman, saying what is "stressed...is the apparently miraculous, non-determined, and asocial nature of artistic achievement" (p.155). By this she means that we sometimes think art springs out of individuals rather than societies. If we believe that, then there is no reason women could not have produced good art in the past, because social conditions would not have affected them. Do you agree that art is a product of its society? Why? Or would you argue that art springs out of a person's inner being without any social influence? Why?
2. Choose a work of art we’ve discussed in lecture or in the book this semester done by a woman artist and speculate as to why the subject matter is what it is (using Nochlin’s ideas)