Investing in Female Artists Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

I believe I am the one!

female storytelling fine art photographer.

As a woman art dealer, I am uplifted to see this issue of work by women artists not commanding enough in comparison to their male counterparts. This is an uphill battle that will take many years to overcome, however the more the situation is recognised, the increase in likelihood that it will indeed change in time.

And there are definitely, without any doubt, numerous’ first-rank’ women artists, along with the men. My respect for Brian Sewell’s art criticism aside, it is absurd to think that not a single woman artist in all of history had been good enough to be classified as such! However it is also highly likely that the majority of such remarkably talented women artists have gone totally unknown. They were likely better known as wives and mothers, as these are the roles that society (to this day) practically forces upon women. If it is still so trying in the 21st Century, imagine how it must have been for women artists several hundred years ago.

So, who are those first-rate artists?

Let the discussion begin.

Thanks for bringing the issue to the surface. I have seen many very good female artists that deserve a bigger place. It seems to me now, that more women are taking the selves and their art more serious – and then again they will be taken more serious in the market.

There is no question that there are many good to brilliant women artists, and hopefully the new breed of women curators and art gallerists will revisit their permanent collections, represent women from the past and more emerging, and evaluate the art of women to be shown their place in art history for educational studies and role modeling for all women art students. I was at an art opening reception for an artist in her early 90′s, an abstract painter, who was doing work at the same time as all the “guys” of the NY School, and was never known by anyone significant. The exhibition was fabulous and I was shocked at the fine quality of the paintings. Firstly they looked as if they were painted yesterday, but were from the late 40′s early 50′s. Oh, they sold alright!

I appreciate the discussion on female artists being undervalued world-wide, and I would also like to add a note that pertains specifically to China (and also a THANK YOU to Nicholas Forrest for raising this timely issue!). Female artists in China have been underrated due in part to issues that are unique to China’s social, political, and economic circumstances during the last thirty years. As China opened to the West in the late 1970s, artists began creating work that was increasingly anti-authoritarian in terms of both content and style. These works were received with varying levels of political tolerance, and as the economic value of the work increased when the international market took notice, that tolerance increased as well. The artists leading these campaigns in the 1980s were almost entirely male. Their ironic, anti-regime, style appealed to the international market and led the way for the great success that artists such as Zhang Xiaogang have enjoyed in recent years.
Female artists during the eighties and nineties were developing a very different style that was informed by, and reacting against, the long-standing practice of fostering “liberation” of women for political gain and international PR purposes. During the Cultural Revolution, such campaigns elevated women to the position of “holding up half the sky” in a manner that stripped them of traditional representations of femininity. As their male peers rebelled against the state using popular, political, and commercial images, modern female artists in the late twentieth century found their rebellion in forming a uniquely female visual language. Either for reasons of aesthetics, or of cross-cultural miscommunication, these works did not fare as well on the international market. (Though are a very few, such as Lin Tianmiao, who have found rather great success internationally.)
The present generation of up and coming artists, born around or after 1975, grew up with different pressures and ideals regarding gender; and this is represented in their work that often takes on similar social issues to those found in the work of young male artists. To be sure, these issues are still interpreted from a female perspective, but the language is one that I think resonates more purely with international consumers. It is not so much that there has or has not been a “first rank” female artist. It is that attention and (increasingly I suspect) auction prices are starting to reflect the true talent of these women. As younger artists, such as Cao Fei draw attention to the talent of female artists, the work of her predecessors, contemporaries, and successors may more easily become visible.
Thank you, again, Nicholas, for highlighting the issue!
I have a fairly new blog discussing exhibit news and profiles of contemporary female artists from China that I hope will serve as an advocacy forum to increase international knowledge of China’s female artists. As a student, I don’t claim to be any sort of authority, but I enjoy the topic and would love lively discussion online at http://worldchambers.wordpress.com/.

Or, to quote a Jenny Holzer Lithograph from ‘Inflammatory Essays’ (1979-82) Tate Gallery:

“Don’t talk down to me. Don’t be polite to me. Don’t try to make me feel nice. Don’t relax. I’ll cut the smile off your face. You think I don’t know what’s going on. You think I’m afraid to react. The joke’s on you. I’m biding my time, looking for the spot. You think no-one can reach you, no-one can have what you have. I’ve been planning while you’re playing. I’ve been saving while you’re spending. The game is almost over so it’s time you acknowledge me. Do you want to fall not ever knowing who took you?”

Joan Mitchell

This is 2009. Time IS changing. Just look at Hilary she WAS the woman behind. BUT see what is happening. He is now supporting HER. This is happening in many ways today. Some men are more MEN, they are masculin enouhgh to let women be side by side. Not threatendby them but treaten them as equals. In this case I will say ARTISTS – that should be more innovative that others are actually falling behind. And that is the question. Why in art?

It’s absurd to equate dollar amounts to the quality of an artist’s work. Throughout history there were plenty of ‘first rank’ male artists who didn’t get any recognition during their life times and hardly sold any paintings. I would like to believe that there are still many ‘first rank’ women artists who are yet to be discovered by art historians.