Women artists
Publication
November 22, 2023
Author
Billy Tartour
Summary
Over the past five years, the art market for women has improved at a faster rate than in the previous fifty years. Historically dominated by men, the art world is now gradually changing this status quo. The place of women in art is paradoxical. When you walk through a museum, women are everywhere! Whether in sculpture or painting, women have been represented for centuries. While the subject may be present, the artist is virtually absent. It is said that museums contain 85% female nudes and 5% female artists. Contemporary art reduces this anomaly. This is a fast-moving market, both in terms of price and social status. Women count!
Institutional change:
This has only been possible because of the very change in women's place in cultural bodies. Women have made significant strides in the art world. International galleries are run by influential women (Nathalie Obadia, Sadie Coles, Pilar Corrias, Victoria Miro); curators like Madeleine Grynsztejn (director of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art) or Hélène Anne Molesworth highlight women in their programs.
Collectors also play a role. The evocative "No Man's Land " exhibition organized by the Rubell couple in 2015 in Miami was a huge success.
Finally, the critics are making their voices heard. In 2015, curator Maura Reilly published a study in Artnews to demonstrate that only a quarter of retrospectives at London's Tate Modern were dedicated to women artists. Since this study, major museums such as MoMA have been seeking parity. Many artists have recently benefited from major exhibitions at flagship museums, and received high cultural honors.
The legitimacy of the female artist culminates in the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale for Carolee Schneemann in 2017.
An abundant artistic production :
Historically, only a tiny proportion of women artists have appeared in art books (Vigée-Lebrun, Artemisia Gentileschi, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Frida Khalo). However, in contemporary art, women have gradually conquered a gigantic space.
Each artist has their unique appeal and merits. Like activists, they make their voices heard, and how!
Their work becomes the avowed pursuit of major collectors and museum institutions. We can mention Ayako Rokkaku (supported by Takashi Murakami), Flora Yukhnovich (contemporary rococo style), Maria Berrio (Colombian artist who uses layers of Japanese paper), Anna Weyant (represented by Gagosian at not even 30).
But let's focus on five artists in particular.
Issy Wood:
- She is a British artist who made the news during Paris+ week with her exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations. This event is indicative of a paradigm shift. During the world's most important art event, in the capital of art, one of the most emblematic foundations decides to devote an entire exhibition to a young contemporary artist.
- Her ultra-realistic style and, above all, her look at the power games that govern our way of being in the world, have made him a real success.
Christina Quarles:
- She embodies and tackles social issues such as the place of minorities, the body and sexuality, questions of identity and the notion of gender.
- She is currently very busy. She was given an exceptional exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and in December 2023 will be part of the "Women on the Verge" show at the Rhona Hoffman gallery, alongside works by Louise Bonnet, Robin. F. Williams and Louise Bourgeois.
Cecily Brown:
- She is one of the figures of the figurative painting revival of the late 1990s. Her favorite subject is the eroticism of living, colorful flesh, oscillating between abstraction and figuration, painting desire, life and death.
- Her auction record was broken in 2008 at Sotheby's, when a painting sold for $6.8 million.
Cindy Sherman:
- She is a major figure on the international contemporary photography scene. She is interested in experimenting with different identities. She takes pleasure in cross-dressing, shaking up sexist codes and clichés, and above all shaking up the viewer's certainties.
- Her work is included in the world's greatest private collections and museums. Her reputation extends beyond the art world. She is sought after by many brands, including Vuitton, of which she was the muse, and which has devoted a very fine retrospective to her in 2021 at the Fondation in Paris.
Yayoi Kusama:
- She is the embodiment of the new status of women in the art world. Her style is recognizable the world over, her market is exploding and her popularity is immense. She manages to exude a pop-cool edge, capitalizing on a growing market, be sought after by the biggest brands (LVMH) and continue to be endorsed by critical and museum institutions.
- Now aged 94, the Japanese artist is at the peak of her career and continues to make headlines.
A market in turmoil :
The new dimension taken on by women in artistic production can be seen in the market.
The presence of women at sales is now a strategy championed by the major auction houses, who highlight new talent and the achievements of female artists.
For the first time in the history of auctions, a majority of women artists outperformed men in terms of sales and auction prices!
Women even occupy 8 places on the list of the 10 artists under 40 who make up the ultra-contemporary market, according to the annual Artprice report, the world leader in art market information.
There's no sign of this trend abating over time. Exhibitions devoted to women are multiplying. While the first awakening occurred in the contemporary art market, museum institutions are increasingly recognizing the importance of honoring women in both modern and classical art.
However, there is still a long way to go to achieve total parity. In the contemporary art market, women represent only 31% of the total.
