A brief overview of the amazing life and work of Linda Nochlin
Linda Nochlin (b.1931) is an American arts writer, critic, historian and professor who is most well known for her passionate writings, teachings and advocacy of feminist art.
Linda Nochlin (b.1931) is an American arts writer, critic, historian and professor who is most well known for her passionate writings, teachings and advocacy of feminist art.
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| Linda Nochlin in front of Philip Pearlstein’s Portrait of Linda Nochlin & Richard Pommer, 1968 (photograph © Matthew Begun) |
Nochlin is also considered an expert in the art of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly Realism and Impressionism with a special interest in the work of Gustave Courbet. Among her publications on these subjects are; Realism and Tradition in Art, 1848-1900 (1966), Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, 1874-1904 (1966) and Realism (1997) all of which are highly regarded.
In 1969 Nochlin was handed a stack of women’s liberation magazines which she claims transformed her into an active feminist almost overnight. (1) By the following semester she was teaching women’s art in the context of art history at Vassar College. By 1971 ArtNews magazine published her now famous essay “Why have there been no great women artists?” The essay, unlike many other arguments on women’s art, did not suggest that there were great women artists who had been overlooked, but argued that great women artists did not exist because they were not given the same opportunities that were given to male artists throughout history in order to become great.
Some of Nochlin’s other well known publications on feminist art include Women, Art, and Power: And other essays (1988), The politics of vision: essays on nineteenth-century art and society (1989), Women in the 19th century: categories and contradictions (1977) and Representing Women (1999).
Nochlin has also co-curated exhibitions celebrating the achievements of female artists such as Women Artists: 1550 to 1950 with Ann Sutherland Harris at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976 and Global Feminisms: New directions in contemporary art with Maura Reilly at the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in 2007.
According to Jean Martin, her writing style is “clear, unembellished prose capable of making fine distinctions without complicating or impeding the exposition of the basic ideas…her writing is deceptively easy to read…an individual recognizable voice.” (2)
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| “The Meeting” (Bonjour Monsieur Courbet) 1854 by Gustav Courbet |
Nochlin has published over 156 works in 280 publications in 12 languages and is the recipient of many awards and fellowships and has taught at many distinuished institutions. Currently Nochlin is the Professor of Art History at New York University's institute of Fine Art.
Nochlin's "Why have there been no great women artists?"
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(1) From The Dictionary of Art Historians: http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/nochlinl.htm
(2) From “A visit with Linda Nochlin” published in The Art Book, Volume 7, Issue 3, June 2000, pp. 16-18.
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Written by Jessica Row
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