How far have we come?
Four centuries of women barely permitted to make art
Permission is a tricky beast.
I’m in London this week and spent Sunday in the Tate Britain in “Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920.” It’s a large show, with many artists represented, and I spent a solid hour poring over it.
However, as is often the case in shows about women’s options throughout history, I was absolutely boiling by the end.
“With her husband’s support…”
Since I have a degree in Art History, I am guilty of going through shows without reading the commentary or labels, but this time I dug in and read them all. The stories of the artists felt as important as the art, and nearly every story hinged on the artist receiving permission from a man in order to make art.
Given that the end of the show featured work from just over a century ago, we have barely moved out of the period when a woman could be barred from expressing herself creatively simply because her husband didn’t like it. The array of stupid objections was staggering.