There seems to be a certain “stigma” that comes with being a woman and being an artist. Just as in art history and in life, female artists are not particularly revered, let alone well-known. I can think of only three female artists who I studied about in any art history courses I took: Mary Cassatt (aka “that cute mother-with-baby-taking a bath” painting), Georgia O’Keffe (aka “the vagina flowers painter”) and Frida Kahlo, an artist I’ve never particularly cared for. It seems rather disappointing and almost shameful that there are not more female works discussed and associated with the great masters of the art world. Though I can think of several off the top of my head who deserve such a title…Jenny Saville, Artemisia Gentileschi, Marlene Dumas, Kristin Calabrese…the list continues.

So why are female artists, both contemporary and those of the past, virtually unknown, while their male counterparts are everywhere–in books, in lectures, in galleries worldwide? I’ve never considered myself a Feminist. I don’t consider my sex an issue when it comes to whether my art is received well or ill or whether I get an exhibition opportunity or not. But I do find the subject of the female artist…lacking, and my rational remains uncomfortably undecided.

What (and why) do you think female artists remain, on the whole, less popular or familiar than male artists?

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