Thursday, February 20, 2020
The Frick Art Museum highlights the dual roles of women in art jewelry with Maker & Muse
Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: For centuries, the art world has relegated women to the passive role of muse, a body to be painted and sculpted. Even today, the representation of female artists in museums still lags, contrary to cultural institutions’ claims to care about addressing the problem. One study by Artnet showed that, between 2008 and 2018, only 11% of art acquired for permanent museum collections was by women.
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4 comments:
I love the Frick Museum. I think they do a magnificent job at curating exhibitions that are multi-faceted, visually stunning, and wonderfully educational. This article cited a fact that I was very unaware of previously stating that “one study by Artnet showed that, between 2008 and 2018, only 11% of art acquired for permanent museum collections was by women.” I suppose I knew the percentage of female representation in museums was low, simply because the Great Masters are predominantly white and male. It is interesting though because the art community is usually the most open and welcoming, and yet the societal boundaries that art often battles are still felt strongly in the places this art is displayed. This exhibition is focused on jewelry, and it is so interesting to think of the lack of females that worked in this specific field that was geared so obviously towards them. It seems so patriarchal for jewelry, which men tell women they must wear to be beautiful, is then also made by those men.
I have yet to go to the Frick Art Museum but maybe my first visit will be for this exhibit. While I was previously aware that women and their art is often neglected by curators of exhibits and museums I didn't know to what degree. Having only 11% of permanent art collections be work by women is crazy. The Frick Museum's focus on women as not only muses but as the makers of their own stories and pieces is important and influential work. The pieces pictured in the article are incredibly beautiful pieces but I was a bit confused that all the ones picked were created by male artists. While I understand that the exhibits highlight women's roles as Muses and Makers its surprising they didn't choose any of the female makers for the pictures. The article's inclusion of descriptors of the work is especially nice to see as it shows a step in the right direction as at least the muses are being discussed rather than the male designers.
I’ve always wanted to visit The Frick (we drive past it all the time on the way to Creative Reuse) but I haven’t had the chance. Now that I know about this exhibition, I must go see it. I love the exhibition’s support of female artists through a historical lens. They’re doing such important work, acknowledging that women have no just been muses in the arts. They have always been making art too. To be honest, though, I wasn’t aware there was such amazing work done by women in the jewelry crafting world. I feel like all the major jewelry exhibitions I’ve been to have only featured the works of men. It’s great to see these pieces of work getting featured. However, I’m shocked at the fact that the article offers - “between 2008 and 2018, only 11% of art acquired for permanent museum collections was by women.” I wasn’t aware that female artists still lack general representation and support in the arts.
I grew up reading lots and lots of biographies and, even (and perhaps especially) in those works about male designers and artists, the influence of women was always extraordinarily obvious. The amount of influence that “muses” - wives, lovers, girlfriends, friends, female family members - had on male artists not only artistically but socially and professionally is absolutely profound; truly, many of the men we praise today would not be who they are now known as without the aid of their female counterparts. In part, the acknowledgement of female artists is based in the fact that they perhaps were not known of in their own time, thus making it more difficult for contemporary conservators to bring their talent into the spotlight. Unfortunately, however, most museums with a large enough collections department own quite a few pieces by the female artists of antiquity and they may not even know of it (especially in a jewellery making context...Alma Pihl at Fabergé comes immediately to mind, as do her contemporaries).
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