The Story of Art Without Men
If, like me, you love museums, love coffee-table books, and loathe the systemic erasure of women from the Western cultural canon, then this gift is for you. In 2015, Katy Hessel went to an art fair, only to slowly realize that, “out of the thousands of artworks before me, not a single one was by a woman.” This was by no means unusual, given that approximately 87 percent of artworks in American museums were made by men, and most of us struggle to name even three female artists off the top of our head. And yet all this time, women have been making work quietly in the shadows. The Story of Art Without Men is Hessel’s attempt to give them their due, documenting the pioneers, Renaissance women, portraitists, and photographers whose work is only now starting to get the attention it’s long deserved.
— Sophie Gilbert, Staff Writer
