Women Artists: The Other Side of the
Picture
VHS video, color, 1999, 54 minutes.
Available from Films for the Humanities and Sciences at 800-257-5126
or <www.films.com>.
Reviewed by Aaris Sherin,
Department of Art,
University of Northern Iowa,
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0362, U.S.A.
aaris.sherin@uni.edu
This informative video is a provocative, interesting look at the role
of women in the contemporary art world, examining their larger place
in society, as well as their inclusion in art history and museum collections.
Three generations of well-known women artists are profiled as they
discuss their ongoing struggle to be professionally successful, their
views on feminism, and how they define themselves within a world that
increasingly asks women to do all that men are asked to do--and more.
What is perhaps most astonishing, in a time when we often consider
ourselves fully liberated and equal, is how many female artists are
still having to make the difficult choice between career and family.
In this film, when an art student is asked to name five of her favorite
male and female artists, in separate categories, it is extremely telling
when she is able to accomplish the first task without difficulty (producing
the names of five male artists with ease and enthusiasm), but when
she tries to recall five females, she is surprised and discouraged
to find that she is only able to name one. On average, the work of
women artists represents a mere five to ten percent of the permanent
collections of large national and international museums. While it
is always difficult to say which works by women should replace those
of acknowledged male masters, such statistics may challenge the viewer
to question his/her own conception of equity and the ground rules
for inclusion in a field that typically considers itself to be among
the most open-minded and liberal.
(Reprinted by permission from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol.
19, No. 1, Autumn 2003.)