Women in the art history field

Women were professionally active in the academic discipline of art history already in the nineteenth century and participated in the important shift early in the century that began involving an "emphatically corporeal visual subject", with Vernon Lee as a notable example.^[1] It is argued that in the twentieth century women art historians (and curators), by choosing to study women artists, "dramatically" "increased their visibility".^[2] In fact, women art historians are one of two groups (besides authors of high-school texbooks) "who say there have been great women artists" in the first place, according to the authors of a study of the representations of women artists in US textbooks.^[3]

Education and employment

In the United States professional, academic employment for women art historians was, by the early 1970s, not commensurate with the number of female PhDs in art history. Between 1960 and 1969, 30.1% of PhDs were awarded to women but those numbers increased significantly during that period: between 1960 and 1965 it was 27%, but between 1966 and 1967 it had gone up to 43.5%. But in 1970-1971, women art historians in art departments in the US made up 23.1% of instructors, 21.6% of assistant professors, 17.5% of associate professors, and only 11.1% of full professors. Comparison with the numbers for the same years for women in the languages, from a study done by the Modern Language Association, showed that "women in C.A.A. [College Art Association] professions face[d] rather more severe discrimination than women in M.L.A. fields". Similar tendencies were reported for salary and employment in studio teaching ("preliminary statistics...indicate that women artists receive a disproportionately small share of full-time studio jobs") and in museums ("particularly significant was a tendency to hire women with BAs to be secretaries and men with BAs for trainee programs which rapidly advanced them to more challenging positions).^[4]

The history of women in the profession also suggests that art education itself has benefited from the increased presence of professional women art historians, since women students sometimes found it necessary to "redo" an education in which only a male point of view had been provided given. Paula Harper, "one of the first art historians to bring a feminist perspective to the study of painting and sculpture",^[5] and Moira Roth shared the same experience of a "one-sided training", of feeling left out.^[6] Discrimination against "women in college and university art departments and art museums" was, in the early 1970s, the immediate cause for the foundation of the Women's Caucus for Art (see below).^[4]

In a statistical study of US employment among art faculties published in 1977, Sandra Packard notes that "in art departments women have been decreasing in number since the 1930's", and that the number of women in art faculties at institutes of higher education "decreas[ed] from 22% in 1963 to a low of 19.5% in 1974", and cites statistics suggesting that "although women are concentrated at the lower ranks in art faculties, they have more Ph.D. degrees than their male colleagues."^[7]

Representation

The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), a caucus for woman art historians, artists, and curators was founded at the 1972 meeting of the College Art Association (CAA), but re-established itself as an independent organization in 1974 after the CAA told them they could not use the CAA name anymore. According to Judith Brodsky, the CAA was, at the time, very much a male-dominated organization; she notes, though, in a 1977 article that the Caucus is given space and time at the annual CAA conference and in the CAA's journal, Art Journal.^[8] A Lifetime Achievement Award was installed in 1979. The organization's objectives include "providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development" and "expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women", and to that purpose publishes a newsletter, organizes sessions at conferences, and runs databases for "art and activism". In 2012 the WCA celebrated its 40th anniversary, and published a pamphlet for the annual awards ceremony that also includes a number of historical essays and reflections from the past presidents.^[9]

Women art historians and feminist art theory

Feminist scholars have argued that the role of women art historians is connected to the study of women (as artists and as subjects) by art historians.^[10] In 1974, Lise Vogel noted that there were few feminist art historians, and that women art historians in general seemed unwilling to ask "the more radical critiques" a feminist scholar should engage in.^[11] In a 1998 essay, Corine Schleif argued that women and feminist scholars need to challenge the "Great Master" canon, and that they need to focus less on "style as evidence of authorship", seen as a traditionally masculine way of viewing the history of art, but rather on style as "one of many sites on the production of meaning". The topic of women scholars in art history is thus intricately connected with what scholars have called feminist art theory;^[10] Kerry Freedman, for example, claims that "women art historians often interpret art that is about and by women differently than their male colleagues".^[12] However, Carol Armstrong and Catherine de Zegher, in Women artists at the millennium (2006), argue that by the 1980s many "women art history scholars" had begun to think of feminism as irrelevant to the discipline.^[13]

Notable women art historians

Name	Nationality	Dates	Specialization	Profession
Alpers, SvetlanaSvetlana Alpers	American	1936	Dutch Golden Age Painting	Art historian
Antonelli, PaolaPaola Antonelli	Italian	1963	Modern Art, Design	Curator
Mouriki, DoulaDoula Mouriki	Greek	1934 - 1991	Byzantinologist, Historian of Art	Professor
Arscott, CarolineCaroline Arscott	English		Victorian art, 19th century art	Art historian
Ashton, DoreDore Ashton	American	1928	Modern Art, Contemporary Art	Writer, professor, art critic
Atasoy, NurhanNurhan Atasoy	Turkish	1934	Ottoman art and architecture	Art historian
Baert, BarbaraBarbara Baert	Belgian	1967	medieval iconology	Art historian
Bal, MiekeMieke Bal	Dutch	1946	Modern Art, Contemporary Art	Cultural theorist, video artist
Banti, AnnaAnna Banti	Italian	1895–1985	Italian Baroque, female artists	Writer, art historian, art critic, translator
Barnes, RuthRuth Barnes	British	1956	Material culture, South and Southeast Asian Textiles	Art historian, curator
Beckett, WendyWendy Beckett (aka 'Sister Wendy')	British	1930	Catholic art	Art historian, Catholic nun
Berenson, MaryMary Berenson [14][15]	American	1864–1945
Dorléac, Laurence BertrandLaurence Bertrand Dorléac	French	1957	Modern and contemporary	Art historian, professor, curator
Bieber, MargareteMargarete Bieber [16]	German	1879–1978	Theatre, sculpture, and clothing of ancient Rome and Greece	Art historian, professor
Bing, GertrudGertrud Bing [17]	German	1892–1964
Boggs, Jean SutherlandJean Sutherland Boggs [18]	Canadian	1922	Nineteenth-century French art, Degas	Curator, art historian, and first female director of the National Gallery of Canada
Borea, EvelinaEvelina Borea	Italian	1931	Italian art history
Breeskin, Adelyn DohmeAdelyn Dohme Breeskin	1896–1986	American	works by Mary Cassatt	curator, museum director, and art historian at Baltimore Museum of Art
Brookner, AnitaAnita Brookner [19]	English	1936
Browse, LillianLillian Browse	British	1906–2005		Art dealer, art historian
Bruggen, Coosje vanCoosje van Bruggen [20]	Dutch-American	1942–2009		Artist, art historian
Bulling, AnnelieseAnneliese Bulling	German, American	1900–2004	Sinologist, Chinese Art and Arch.	Art lecturer, art historian
Carbonell, Teresa GisbertTeresa Gisbert Carbonell	Bolivian	1926	Andean art history	Art historian
Caws, Mary AnnMary Ann Caws	American	1933	Modern Art, Contemporary art	Author, literary critic, art historian
Churcher, BettyBetty Churcher[21]	Australian	1931–2015		Art historian, first female director of the National Gallery of Australia)
Constantine, MildredMildred Constantine	American	1913–2008	Poster Art, Graphic Design	Art historian and curator at Museum of Modern Art in the 1950s and 1960s
Cooke, LynneLynne Cooke	Australian		Modern art, Contemporary art	Curator
d'Harnoncourt, AnneAnne d'Harnoncourt	American	1943–2008		Curator, and Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Dickerman, LeahLeah Dickerman	American		Modern art, Contemporary art	Curator, art historian
Emilia, Lady Dilke[22]	English	1840–1904
Joan Evans	British	1893–1977		Art historian
Graevenitz, Antje vonAntje von Graevenitz	German	1940-		Art historian, Art critic
Harper, PaulaPaula Harper	American	1930-2012	Feminist art, Pissarro, contemporary art	Art historian, art critic, art lecturer, author
Hoff, UrsulaUrsula Hoff	German, Australian	1909–2005
Hoffmann, MeikeMeike Hoffmann	German	1962
Holly, Michael AnnMichael Ann Holly	American		Historiography of Art History	Art historian
Jones, AmeliaAmelia Jones	American	1961
Klonk, CharlotteCharlotte Klonk	German		Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Museology	Art historian
Krauss, RosalindRosalind Krauss	American	1941
Lemieux, AnnetteAnnette Lemieux	American	1957-present	Contemporary art	Professor, artist
Lewis, SamellaSamella Lewis	American	1924	African-American art	Art historian, art critic, and artist (printmaker)
Lippard, LucyLucy Lippard	American	1937	Contemporary Art	Art critic, curator
Montagu, JenniferJennifer Montagu	British	1931	Italian Baroque sculpture	Art historian
Müller-Ebeling, ClaudiaClaudia Müller-Ebeling	German	1956
Mulvey, LauraLaura Mulvey	English	1941		feminist film theorist
Natif, MikaMika Natif	Israeli		Islamic painting: Central Asia, Iran, India, and the Mediterranean	Art historian
Der Nersessian, SirarpieSirarpie Der Nersessian	Armenian	1896-1989	Armenian and Byzantine studies	Art Historian and Museum Director
Nochlin, LindaLinda Nochlin [23]	American	1931		Art historian
Philip, Lotte BrandLotte Brand Philip	German	1910–1986
Pollock, GriseldaGriselda Pollock [24]	English/Canadian	1949–
Prettejohn, ElizabethElizabeth Prettejohn	American	1961–	Victorian Art, Pre-Raphaelites	Art historian, Professor, curator, author
Raven, ArleneArlene Raven	American	1944–2006	Feminist art movement in the United States	Art historian, art critic, and founder of the Los Angeles Woman's Building)
Rebay, HillaHilla Rebay	1890-1967
Robbins, TrinaTrina Robbins	American	1938	History of comics	Artist and writer
Rose, BarbaraBarbara Rose	American	1938
Rottenberg, AndaAnda Rottenberg	Polish	1944–
Schopenhauer, JohannaJohanna Schopenhauer [25]	German	1766–1838		Artist, author
Shabout, NadaNada Shabout	American	1962	Modern Iraqi art	Art historian
Silverman, KajaKaja Silverman	American	1947–		Film theorist, art historian
Silvestri-Levy, AlessandraAlessandra Silvestri-Levy	Brazilian	1900s–	Producer and witer
Stafford, Barbara MariaBarbara Maria Stafford	American			Art historian
Steinitz, KateKate Steinitz [26]	German-American	1889–1975		Artist, art historian
Stiles, KristineKristine Stiles	American	1947–		Art historian, curator
Stokes, MargaretMargaret Stokes [27]	Irish	1832–1900		Antiquarian
Stokstad, MarilynMarilyn Stokstad [28]	American	1929–
Swindler, Mary HamiltonMary Hamilton Swindler [29]	American	1884–1967
Temkin, AnnAnn Temkin	American
Thompson, Dorothy BurrDorothy Burr Thompson [30]	American	1900–2001
Tietze-Conrat, EricaErica Tietze-Conrat [31]	Austrian, American	1883–1958	Contemporary Viennese Art, Renaissance art, the Venetian school	Academic lecturer
Tipping, MarjorieMarjorie Tipping [32]	Australian	1917–2009		Historian
Toynbee, JocelynJocelyn Toynbee [33]	English	1897–1985
Tucker, MarciaMarcia Tucker [34]	American	1940–2006
Vetulani, CecyliaCecylia Vetulani	Polish	1908–1980
Wagner, AnneAnne Wagner	American	1949-	Modern and contemporary art	Art historian, Professor emerita
Wagner-Rieger, RenateRenate Wagner-Rieger [35]	Austrian	1921–1980	Architecture, historicism	Academic lecturer
Welch, EvelynEvelyn Welch
Wharton, EdithEdith Wharton [36]	American	1862–1937	Architecture	Writer
Whinney, MargaretMargaret Whinney [37]	English	1897–1975	English art history	Academic lecturer
Williams, SylviaSylvia Williams	American	1936–1996	African art	Curator, museum director
Wilson, SarahSarah Wilson	English
Wischnitzer, RachelRachel Wischnitzer	German	1885–1989	Jewish art history	architect, art historian
Wittkower, MargotMargot Wittkower	German-American	1902-1995	Neo-Palladian Architecture, Italian Renaissance, Baroque	Writer, Interior Design
Woodall, JoannaJoanna Woodall	British		Portraiture, Netherlandish Art
Woodall, MaryMary Woodall	British	1901–1988	Thomas Gainsborough scholar	Museum director, curator
Yates, FrancesFrances Yates [38]	English	1899–1981	Renaissance
Zahorska, StefaniaStefania Zahorska	Polish	1890–1961		Polish prosaist

References

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2. Tannenbaum, Judith (1994). "East Coast- C Is for Contemporary Art Curator: Curiosity, Contradiction, Collaboration, Challenge". Art Journal. 53 (3): 47, 49, 51, 53 55, 57, 59. doi:10.2307/777431. JSTOR 777431.
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