A Response to “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”By Linda Nochlin
...s with wombs rather than penises to create anything significant” In my opinion these observations seem sexist and not well thought out. This article gave me the opportunity to analyze the reasons and possibilities of the question, “Why have there been no great women artist” and after thought and research I have come to the conclusion that there are and were great women artists, yet, their greatness has been undermined. To begin, I don’t think that women artists are as well known as men because they have been overlooked for many centuries. It was stated in “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” that “women do not have the golden nugget of artistic genius,” however, throughout the centuries women have had an immense amount of determination to produce art, such as weaving, pottery and decorative arts. Another reason women went many times unnoticed was due to the times in which they lived. Women were given the duty of bearing and caring for the children as well as the household. They also did not receive education, which hindered the amount of artwork produced by women. Social roles may have also had an effect on the amount or quality of artwork that was produced. In many cases, it was only the women of the upper class that were allowed to partake in arts and crafts. It is also believed that a large portion of artwork that was produced was influenced by the people of their time as illustrated in the quoted from “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” “In every instance, women artists and writers would seem to be closer to other artists and writers of their own period and outlook than they are to each other.” Furthermore, the misconception of what art truly is ha...