Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?
It is important to consider that there were not knowns great women artists but because women in art have not been sufficiently investigated and appreciated. Furthermore, examining the society in general and women’s position, it was institutionally impossible for a woman to achieve success or be recognized, no matter what her potential, talent or genius was. The women have not achieved the same status as men in the society because in art as in many other fields or areas, the women have been oppressed, discouraged and stultified, and did not have the ‘’good fortune’’ to be born white, preferable middle class and above all, male. The issue or problem is not in humans’ hormones, menstrual cycles, etc. but the education and institutions.
Moreover, the misconception of what art is, the idea that art is direct, personal expressions of individual emotional experience and translation of personal life into visual terms; which influence the perception of women in art and makes them receive comments such as ‘’considered unsuitable for the female spirit’’ like in the case of the art of Artemisia Gentileschi.
However, it is important to consider philosophers like John Stuart Mill whom argued that the progress of the society requires that no people, men and women be imprisoned in the “fixed social position”. Mill claimed that liberation of women will produce two important results: benefit society by triggering the contributions of women and it will benefit women by granting them the autonomy. Women face the reality and fight for changing the present situation.