Feminine Creativity: Gender Inequality, Canonization, and Authenticity in the Art World

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Heather Grossman

Abstract or Description

In recent years, the canon of art history has come under intense scrutiny, particularly for its exclusion and dismissal of artists, art forms, and cultures that do not meet the classical and somewhat antiquated standards for canonization. The inherent exclusivity of the canon has created a power dynamic in the art world conducive to an inequitable understanding of art history and its development over time, as well as one that jeopardizes the authenticity of the canon as an institution. Authenticity here refers not to the genuineness of the works that make up the canon themselves, but something that Denis Dutton gets to the heart of in his essay “Authenticity in Art”; authenticity runs deeper than the proper attribution and categorization of a piece to “something…having to do with an object’s character as a true expression of an individual’s or a society’s values and beliefs” (Dutton 2). Through a close reading of the informational catalogs from two different exhibits at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) and Manet, the Man Who Invented Modernity, with the lens of Dutton’s essay in mind, it becomes clear that the blatant differential treatment of male and female artists by the canon is not just myopic but ultimately detrimental to the fabric of art history. Furthermore, it is imperative to acknowledge the value of canonical interventions in education and to question how an institution so vital to the discipline of art history and the art world at large can be considered authentic if it does not account for the emotions, experiences, and expressive capability of people of all backgrounds.