After the class discussion on female representation in the museum, Alex’s prompt of trying to think of five female artists seemed like a wonderful challenge to promote reflection. I was able to visualize art pieces I knew were by women but I was shocked by how much I struggled to actually name female artists.

One of the readings had mentioned the female abstract expressionist exhibit at the Denver Art Museum; that was an exhibit that I had to fortune to attend while I was living in Colorado. At the time, I was 16 and it was the summer right before I was going to take AP Art History. I was someone who was fascinated by abstract expressionist art and quickly learned how misunderstood of an art form it was for typical onlookers. I was very excited to see a female-led exhibit that was one of my favorite art forms. I wandered through the paintings and was inspired by how emotionally raw so many of them were. After that exhibit I realized how surface-level, famous male-created abstract expressionist pieces really were and how cruelly women were excluded from high regard and historical narrative within the museum. I took that reflection with me while I then took AP Art History at the start of that school year. I was impressed by the breadth of the pieces covered in that class but historically women were barely present and it was a growing frustration for me.

Now embracing my passion for art history, I have regained that critical eye about female representation in art institutions. Feminist activism within the museum is an ever constant fight and I am hopeful that I can be a part in the reclamation of female artists historically in order to begin to break down the systemic sexism that exists within the art world. Reflecting on that abstract expressionist exhibit now, I question the exclusivity of a female only exhibit as it just bandaids over the concern that the Denver Art Museum was failing to represent female artists in its contemporary collection. An important detail that I recall was seeing that all of the artists represented in that exhibit were from New York and the section for Colorado artists remained disproportionately male. Museums have a long way to go.

Reading Sources:

Halperin, Julia, and Charlotte Burns. “Museums Claim They’re Paying More Attention to Female Artists. That’s an Illusion.” Artnet News, Artnet News, 28 Oct. 2019, news.artnet.com/womens-place-in-the-art-world/womens-place-art-world-museums-1654714.

Image Sources:

Felsenthal, Julia. “‘Women of Abstract Expressionism’ Challenges the Myth of the Macho Paint-Splattered Man.” Vogue, Vogue, 26 May 2017, www.vogue.com/article/women-of-abstract-expressionism-denver-art-museum.