Summer term
Tuesday 23 April – Tuesday 21 May 2023, 19:00
On campus
OR
Wednesday 1 May – Wednesday 29 May 2023, 20:00 [London time]
Online
In London alone, the last few years have seen an unprecedented number of exhibitions in major public galleries dedicated to the contribution of women not only to artmaking, but to the shaping of respective art worlds more widely. Many more such exhibitions are in preparation at the time of writing, including a major survey at Tate, Women in Revolt! Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970-1990 (8 November 2023 – 7 April 2024).
Representations have ranged from the monographic-thematic, such as Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism (31 March – 10 September 2023, Dulwich Picture Gallery) to a focus on women’s networks, and to comprehensive surveys, like the Whitechapel Gallery’s recent Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1904-70 (7 February – 9 May 2023).
Based on selected case studies drawn from such relevant exhibitions, our summer term lectures explore some of the theoretical and curatorial approaches underpinning the framing and staging of the work of women in the visual arts. Our series will also address the formative role of venues like London’s Chisenhale Gallery in commissioning, exhibiting and generally supporting emerging artists.
To give our investigation a meaningful historical framework, we shall focus on modern and contemporary art only. More than half a century on from the first appearance of feminist art historian Linda Nochlin’s foundational essay ‘Why have there been no Great Women Artists?’, one of the most basic questions we might ask is why we still employ the qualifying expression ‘woman artist’, – as if ‘the artist’ is, by default, male. Alongside our exploration of current feminist theory (and its intersections with other forms of thinking, including critical race theory and postcolonial and decolonial theories) and of curatorial practice, of emerging new canons, and shifts in our evaluation of artistic media, we shall, of course, also encounter in depth the work of a variety of exciting practitioners.
Speakers include Dr Catherine Grant (The 91ÖÆƬ³§), Dr Lois Oliver (curator of Berthe Morisotat Dulwich Picture Gallery), Laura Smith (Director of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield), Linsey Young (Curator British Contemporary Art at Tate). Moderator: Dr Anne Puetz.