It is true that there are few great women artists on par with Picasso or even Pollock. And it's true that women are underrepresented in the art world. It's also true that it would be incorrect to "dumb down" the art world, so to speak, in order to label more women as great artists.
This isn't because women don't have skill, or because gender determines art in any way. Simply put, it's because of blocked opportunities. How many men had access to the entire reserves of the art world? A whole freaking lot. How many women had this same access? Hardly any. So it's unsurprising that we all know so many male artists and so few female artists--given a larger sample size to draw from, geniuses will emerge. With a small population, this is not so likely. I think that if men and women had ALWAYS had the same access to the same resources, we would see AS MANY great and well-known female artists as male artists.
Plus, the whole patriarchal social structure thing. That plays a role, too, in how much exposure female artists could actually have back in the day.
The Heidi Chronicles was interesting to me because Heidi has so little character. She just kind of watches and feels unhappy. You know? She rarely shows any real personality that hasn't been assigned to her by the preconceptions of Scoop, Peter, or even Fran. And in the play, the actress who played Heidi made her very awkward. When I pictured the high school dance scene, I thought of it more as Peter and Heidi bonding immediately after a short awkward period. But in the play, the whole thing was awkward. Same with when she met Scoop--I imagined her as a little more forceful and angry, a little less quiet and vulnerable. But I suppose that must just be my own preconceptions about what a feminist should be like.
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I completely agree with the whole blocked opportunity concept. I mean you can't expect 17th century women artists to be included in art exhibits because there just weren't any. If there was equal access, there would be equal representation. In universities, there are just as many women than men, if not more because women have the opportunity to be educated.
ReplyDeleteinteresting points you bring up, hopefully this will continue to improve as time goes on
ReplyDeleteInteresting observations on the Heidi-character, Allison. It's as if the emotionality of the character in the play does the feminist appeal/intention of the play a disservice.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it is more of an issue of women's accessibility to the art world instead of lacking talent/genius in art. I was surprised by the artwork in the play. I had never heard of any of the female artists, but I thought their work reviled other male artists in their respective time periods. Even though these women produced good works of art, I think they weren't taken seriously during their time periods, missed out on getting into art discussions/books, and were more or less forgotten compared to their male counterparts.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about Heidi as sort of an observer for most of the play. Many of the other characters had stronger voices than her, but she ties all the scenes together because the play revolves around her life. Wasserstein did do something different with this play in many ways, and perhaps that is what made it so successful.