• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

You are here: Home / Life / Am I Sexist? Why I’ve Only Ever Written About Male Artists for Over 3 Years

Am I Sexist? Why I’ve Only Ever Written About Male Artists for Over 3 Years

September 13, 2016 //  by Kristen Clevenson

Share1FacebookTweet

I’m a junior in a 4000 level art history seminar on theory. This is it. This is the time when I choose the topic of the thesis that I will spend the entirety of my senior year researching. At the end of this semester, I’ll submit a thesis proposal that will determine the focus of the hours I’ll spent at the library. And I think, “Where are the great women artists?”

We go around the table and say the topics of our papers. One person said they wanted to write about a painting by Edouard Manet, another about Camille Pissarro, then Rembrandt, Picasso, Kandinsky. Huh. All these artists fascinate me. They’re mysterious and confusing and brilliant. But they’re also all men.

Where is the lady power? Where are the women like Kara Walker, who creates beautiful and heartbreaking shadow silhouettes, or the Guerrilla Girls who ask if women have to be naked to get into famous museums in our studies? I am in a class of 12 people and 10 of us are girls. But when it comes to my turn, I produce my thesis centering on Maurizio Cattelan. Cattelan: a total bad-ass, very cheeky, contemporary artist who plays against authority, the museum as an institution, all that very rambunctious exciting stuff.

He’s also a man.

Image result for kara walker
flickr.com

When we are supposed to be researching. I’m stuck in the same place. The teacher asks me why I didn’t have a bibliography. I say I’m not sure if I can write another paper about a man. Thinking back through my art classes, I realize that in all my years of art history classes (which involved a lot of art history papers), I have only ever written about a female artist once.

We talk about my paper, about my overall topic. Do I love his work? Yes. Do I love what it means for the art world? Yes. But is that enough? I justify my choice with, “There’s just not enough research on female artists who deal with similar themes as Cattelan.” I read some of the sources my teacher recommends. I’m over the moon. I love reading about Cattelan. I love that he made a sculpture of an elephant and put a sheet over it with only eye holes and called it Not Afraid of Love. I love that he put a giant middle finger statue outside of the financial building in Milan, Italy. But inside there’s this lingering guilt.

Image result for maurizio cattelan
flickr.com

How can I sit back and perpetuate the system like this? I’m young! The future is literally in my generation’s hands (or that’s what everyone says when they complain about how our obsession with smartphones is the root of everything evil that’s sure to come in the future). Shouldn’t I try to focus on these topics that haven’t been written about? Shouldn’t I try and seek out the bazillions of artists who have fantastic skills but aren’t white males with tons of papers already published about them?

The day before I submit my thesis proposal, I show up at my advisors office and tell her I can’t do it. It doesn’t matter that I’ve wasted a semester researching this topic or that I have only one night to write a new proposal. I don’t want to feel guilty my whole senior year. She gives me case study ideas and emails me sources and says if I can get her a draft by 10 p.m., she’ll have it back to me tonight and I can send her a second one in the morning.

Image result for whitney biennial 1993
wikipedia.org

By 4 p.m. the next day I turn in my proposal, wildly unprepared but with a giant smile on my face. This year, instead of burying myself in the library with another white male artist, I will research exhibitions that feature everyone’s voices. I want to move with the crowd that walks into a museum not just to see the Picasso’s and the Van Gogh’s and move on. Instead, I want to explore the Whitney Biennial of 1993, the first ever exhibition where there were more minority artists (meaning women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians) than there were white males. I want to look at Making Africa, an exhibition of contemporary African art and design works. I want to learn how these voices have been shared in the past, and how we can work to keep them alive and speaking right now.

Share1FacebookTweet

Filed Under: Gender Life

About Kristen Clevenson

Kristen is a Senior (or fourth year, as we call them!) at the University of Virginia, studying Art History and Media Studies. She loves modern art, walking around New York and fancy cheese.

You May Also Like

cultural identity and language

Language Abilities Don’t Define Your Cultural Identity, Unless?

How I Turned My Personal Journals into a Published Book

songs to belt out

21 Songs to Belt Out in the Shower

15 Alcohol-Free Activities for a Friday Night In

Reflecting on Fall 2020: How to Recover from One of the Hardest Semesters

How to Make Money From Home Without Taking Off Your PJs

15 COVID-19 Safe Ways to Celebrate the Holidays in 2020

Top 10 COVID-19 Safe Activities to Do Near Fresno, California

Breaking the Binary: My Journey into Identifying as Non-Binary

The Döner Project: My Berlin Budget as a College Student

CM’s Guide to the Print and Digital Journalism Major

Away from Home and Feeling Gross: Being Sick My Freshman Year

A Tale of Two Twin Flames

movies to binge over winter break

Battling Boredom: 10 Movies to Binge Over Winter Break

Being an Asian-American: Learning to Accept Both Halves of Myself

How to Become a Published Poet

ADHD or the Enemy? At Least My College Helped Me

berkeley outdoors

10 COVID-19 Friendly Things to Do in Berkeley, California

Top 10 DIY Gifts for Your BFF

Christmas

10 Gifts For Parents That They Want But Haven’t Asked For

friend group dressed up as Big Hero Six characters

Animation Nerds Unite: 10 Gifts for Animation Lovers

gifts for your girl squad

10 Gifts Your Girl Squad Can’t Live Without

10 Virtual Gifts for Your BFF that Will Make Them Love You Forever

Real News: 10 Gifts for the Future Journalist in Your Life

Previous Post: « Buy the Bike: A Senior’s Rationale for Cruising Into the Finish Line
Next Post: Why Becoming a “Local Celebrity” Excuses Rape »

Primary Sidebar



Trending Posts

CampusLife_sm
53

CM’s Top 10 Schools Doing Residential Life Right

coffee w heart
14

A Barista’s Guide to Making Delicious Coffee Drinks at Home

7

5 Tips for Getting Your Social Media Ready for the Professional World

tv
6

10 Popular Anime Shows You Need to Binge ASAP

1

Finding Yourself Through Professors and Pandemics 

Featured Chapter: UCLA

Footer

logo

College Magazine is the national daily guide to campus life. Our articles for college students feature university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health and collegiate dating tips.

Written by students for students, by a team of journalists from universities nationwide, we’re on the pulse of the college experience.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

Majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

Intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

Money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

Travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

Shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

Copyright © 2021 College Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.