Women Can't Paint: Gender, the Glass Ceiling and Values in Contemporary Art

by Helen Gørrill

Overview

In 2013 Georg Baselitz declared that 'women don't paint very well'. Whilst shocking, his comments reveal what Helen Gørrill argues is prolific discrimination in the artworld. In a groundbreaking study of gender and value, Gørrill proves that there are few aesthetic differences in men and women's painting, but that men's art is valued at up to 80 per cent more than women's. Indeed, the power of masculinity is such that when men sign their work it goes up in value, yet when women sign their work it goes down. Museums, the author attests, are also complicit in this vicious cycle as they collect tokenist female artwork which impinges upon its artists' market value. An essential text for students and teachers, Gørrill's book is provocative and challenges existing methodologies whilst introducing shocking evidence. She proves how the price of being a woman impacts upon all forms of artistic currency, be it social, cultural or economic and in the vanguard of the 'Me Too' movement calls for the artworld to take action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501352751
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	02/06/2020
Series:	Criminal Practice Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Helen Gørrill is an artist, futurist, writer, editor, and educator lecturing in visual culture. She holds a PhD in contemporary painting, gender and inequality, and her artwork is digitally archived by the Brooklyn Museum's EASCFA collection. As an academic she applies disruptive techniques to challenge stagnancy in gender equality, feminist methodologies and the visual arts.
Helen Gørrill is Lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art&Design, University of Dundee, UK. She is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusive Lead for DJCAD and the Chair of In-Gear, a new initiative and forum for intersectional gender equality in the arts research.

Table of Contents

List of figures
Acknowledgements

Introduction:
Women Can't Paint

1: Masculinities and Femininities in Painting: The New Androgynous
Aesthetics in Contemporary Art

2: The Price of Being a Woman Artist: Dollars, Dirhams, Pounds and Euros
3: The Museum Exposed: Gendered Visibilities and Essentialist Aesthetics through Equality

4: Gender Parity and Arts Prizes: 'Only Men Are Capable of Aesthetic Greatness'

5: The Importance of Wearing the Right Old (Art) School Tie: Networking, Gender and Painting Values
6: Sexism and Ageism in Visual Art Values - 'But Men are Allowed to be Old or Ugly!'

7: Smashing the Glass Ceiling of Women's Art: Manifestos for Equality That Could Actually Work

Conclusion:
Baselitz's Folly: Women Can Paint

Glossary
Appendices
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

A detailed analysis of how women are sidelined in the art world – and how they can fight back… a sound exposé of the systematic vilification of art by women.” —Times Higher Education

From the Publisher