seriously, J. Crew? AYFKM?
September 28, 2009
I hate to interrupt our happy reverie, but I am pissed.
On the heels of watching the film Who does She Think She Is? the miserable statistics (80% of students in art college are women, but a tiny fraction are represented in museums and galleries-- only 2% of the artists in the permanent collection of the Tate Modern are women; MOMA is something like 10%. Janson’s ubiquitous History of Art mentioned just one woman artist, Mary Cassatt, in the early 70’s. It’s been updated seven times and now mentions less than 20, this in over 2,000 years of art. Blech) are fresh in my mind and I simply can't open a catalog and let this pass as, oh-- stupid.
It's more than stupid. It is insulting. It's biased. It's wrong.
Note that the word used is artist. If they had said, hey we are going to feature seven male artists-- I probably wouldn't have blinked (okay, full disclosure, I would've likely blinked and eye-rolled, but that is their perogative, so I wouldn't have been posting all over the internet about it). It's because they simply say "artist" and then proceed to feature seven male artists.
But then, maybe they are right-- maybe this is "life imitating art" . . imitating the current attitude in the art world.
Your thoughts?
(sorry no bisous here, I've got a bitter taste in my mouth), Elizabeth
P.S. Do the Guerrila Girls twitter?
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