Conclusion

Linda Nochlin, in her 1971 essay titled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”, poses that the “white Western male viewpoint [has] unconsciously been accepted as the viewpoint of the art historian… [this viewpoint proves] to be inadequate not merely on moral and ethical grounds, or because it is elitist, [but also] on purely intellectual ones” (Nochlin). This “intellectual distortion” must be righted “in order to achieve a more adequate and accurate view of historical situations” (Nochlin). The question which titles Nochlin’s essay implies that women artists are not capable of making great work, of being geniuses, a term which is thrown around quite often in reference to white male artists. Nochlin explains, “the fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education”. Women were not encouraged to be artists by any means; women were actually barred from taking studio classes until the late 1800’s. Any art forms women were pushed to learn, such as embroidery, weaving, knitting, etc., were demoted to the status of “craft”, making them appear “less than” art forms such as painting and sculpture, although women’s work required at least as much skill and conceptual backing. Even as women began claiming performance and video art, as demonstrated in The Leaky Female Body, they were at a disadvantage because these art forms are not commodifiable, furthering the extreme gender pay disparity that already exists within the art world. 

Hélène Cixous’ essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” encourages women to tell their own stories. While she is encouraging women to write, this applies to art as well. Performance art allows the space for telling one’s lived body experience. Cixous writes, “woman must put herself into the text- as into the world and into history- by her own movement” (Cixous). Recognizing the ways that women have been silenced, she also says, “writing is for you, you are for you, your body is yours- take it” (Cixous). That is exactly what the artists written about here have done. By no means is this a complete history- it is just a tiny slice of a history that has not had adequate documentation, appreciation, or focus. As I began researching this topic, I found far more information, far more works and more artists, than I had expected. This confirmed what I already knew: that there has not been adequate space made for women artists. Through this project I have gained an even deeper respect and appreciation for many artists, and will continue to archive groundbreaking and powerful works using the female body throughout my own art practice.