Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? Linda Nochlin

It is not often that a single publication by an art critic can change the world, but that is exactly what Linda Nochlin did with her essay “Why Haven’t We Had Great Women Artists?”, first published in 1971. Although the essay’s title is phrased as a question, the author refuses to answer it. Instead, armed with unparalleled insight and wit, she questions the very concept of artistic genius.

Like Woolf before her in A Room of One’s Own, Nochlin addresses the institutional constraints that have prevented women from making art for centuries and ponders how to achieve future freedom. Written at a time when feminist theory, as well as queer theory, race, and postcolonial studies, the companion essay “Why Haven’t We Had Great Women Artists? Thirty Years Later” offers the reader an overview of the current achievements and challenges of women’s art in a global context.