Happily an Artist

           Do you think women are still discriminated against in the work force, particularily women artists?  Have you seen it in today's society? Does it still exist in today's auction houses,  art museums, art galleries, art exhibitions and art competitions?  Is it harder for a woman artist to become well known and successful than what it is for a man?  Are women artists given less opportunities and not taken as seriously?  Can she expect the same prices for her work as the male artist?  It has been said that womens art works sell for a fraction of the price of male artists.   

"It is a constant source of disappointment to see the discrepancy in prices between outstanding female artists and their male counterparts."  --- Iwan Wirth.  "An artists gender should have nothing to do with their market value. . ."

Would a woman artist be better to sign her name only using her last name?  I have spoken to women artists who have been told to do that because there is less chance of being discriminated against.  Is that true - meaning is there less chance of being discriminated against?  I don't know.  Do you know?  What do you think?   And then there is the age of an artist, especially for a female artist.  Is there prejudice there too?

          Guess I am just throwing this hot topic out there to get an idea of what is going on in todays art world when it comes to discrimination against women artists and as a discussion topic --  if it is still there today. It appears that it is.

          We know women artists were highly discriminated against before the 19th century. You may have seen photos or even paintings of women painters in a field working on their paintings (painted by a male artist.)  Did anyone ever get to see those paintings by the women artists other than maybe their family?  What ever became of those paintings? 

         In looking deeper into that scene of women painting, women were only permitted to study art and painting if used as a past time. To see a woman painting was treated as nothing special and not taken seriously.  It was looked upon as only a trivial past time or hobby for women.  They were actually not allowed  to be painting in a serious fashion.  They were also not allowed to have exhibitions of their work and were not permitted to study painting in art academies.  Some of the known male artists had wife's who also painted, but it was not usually discussed  and their work was certainly not accepted because they were women.   It did not matter how accomplished they were.

         So much of women artists works went unseen by art collectors, art galleries and critics.  They did not receive the recognition they deserved.  They were snobbed.  Historically it is known that women artists have been excluded from museums. 

         Would you believe that even up to the 1970's and into the 1980's there was a lack of women artists being represented in the art galleries of New York City?  Not because they did not try or were not accomplished.  It was because the art scene was dominated by male artists.  Art galleries mainly represented male artists.   They were not as accepting toward the woman artist.  As of 1980, women artists were not well represented in museums yet.   Museum discrimintion had still existed. 

         As late as 2008, a known art critic, Mr. Sewell, actually stated....... "Only men are capable of aesthetic greatness." and went on to say..... "There has never been a first rank woman artist."........and then adding more insult to injury said....... " that may have something to do with bearing children."  And yet insists that the art market is not sexist.   For further information, search the article "Women Artists Still Face Discrimination" written by Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout.  May 10, 2012.,  and the article "There's never been a great woman artist.", July 2008 article written by Andrew Johnson 

          Yes, being an artist for a man or a woman is not an easy career choice as far as making a decent living.  Yes, for some artists it has become successful, but for the most part, there are not many artist millionaires, if any, who have gotten that way through their art works.

And, of course, if the male artist is married with a family to support, it can be rough too.

         However, for a woman it is doubly difficult.  Truthfully, even today women artists can be spoken to as if painting is only a past time or hobby for them.   Artists already are generally placed into a certain stereotype, but for a woman, she has to battle sex discrimination as a woman and also as an artist.  A certain image is put onto artists.

         A woman artist might find herself having more to prove and has to work harder as a woman artist.  She has to be twice as good as the male artist. 

        She may be in the studio painting or outdoors painting, but, if married, she is expected to first raise the children, get them to their school games on time, have dinner ready at 5:00 and help with homework, get them in bed at a certain time and read them a story, etc...etc..   Of course the women artists love their children and/or families and will do all they can to be a good mother, wife and still have a career as an artist.  She also deals with guilt for trying to do both. 

          In today's society, the understanding and caring husband is often found helping with all of that.  If the woman artist has an understanding and supportive, encouraging husband, that is a good thing.  I do think there are more understanding husband's today then in the past.   You also know of husbands and wifes both working as artists. 

          It is evident that Society changes throughout the decades and centuries. 

          This type of discrimination against women artists has improved.  The discrimination is not as noticable today, but one can still find it here and there with women artists not being taken as seriously as the men.  It dribbles down in subtle ways.  Check out the art museums and see how many women artists are represented.  Although it has improved starting in the mid 1980's, you will find that there is a very unequal representation of women artists.  It is still not an honest representation of the art work that women artists do. 

 Guerrilla Girls, a group of artists which started over twenty-seven years ago because of the prejudice against women artists..... found that after investigating New York museums there were only four percent of women artists represented in the Metropolitan Museum's contemporary section.  

         It was also discovered that women artists  do not get the same prices for their art as men do.  What do you think?  Does that glass ceiling still exist for women artists?  Can a woman artist expect to get as much money for her paintings in an auction house as her male counterpart?  But, first check out how many women artists works are being handled by the auction houses.

           What do you think? Is prejudice still there?  Check out the galleries and especially the museums.  Is there equal representation of women and men artists?  Just wondering what you think.  What about all the art magazines with artists articles.... is there an equal percentage overall in representation of each gender?

Mr. Wirth told the art newspaper that things could change. .... "Now there are more female curators and a new generation of male curators rewriting art history."

          In the local galleries that represent my work, I have never seen discrimination against women artists.  At least not that I know of.

          Women Artists have come a long way, but have perhaps more paths to walk with more walls and glass ceilings to break through.

However, in the long run, it is the work that counts, not the gender. 

Women have to take themselves seriously and take the time to develop their careers as artists. They must always be positive about themselves as artists and not listen to negativity.   

           In 1986, The National Museum of Women in the Arts,opened up to the public in Washington, D.C..  This museum is devoted entirely to the work of women artists, past women artists and women in today's art world.

          What do you think?  Do you still see any prejudice against women artists?

Artfully yours,

   Sandy