Question

In her essay, Linda Nochlin tries to explain why there have been no "Great" women artists. First define what she means by "Great." Next, address the social and institutional structures that historically precluded women from becoming "Great" artists. Finally, what circumstances allowed for a few women to achieve preeminence?

Answer 1

By using the word "Great" Linda Nochlin meant few women artists were recognized and had their works considered "great", even though they had high quality works, these women were considered inferior because they were produced by women.

This disqualification of female artistic work is very much influenced in the artistic milieu. This is because many believed that women lacked the intellectual capacity to produce great works. These people believed that women should limit their skills to domestic services and that is why only men should have artistic education and the right to practice their artistic skills.  For this reason, the artist women had to perfect their talents alone and even producing quality works, had their works judged as bad, without technique and without relevance.

However, over the years, people's thoughts began to change and women were able to gain more space in the artistic environment, which helped some women to have their work recognized and considered as great works of art. However, a lot needs to change, because even with all the achievements, women still do not have the space they deserve.