The Easel

Archives: The New Republic

29th August 2023

The Problem of Art Without Men

The first time London’s National Gallery gave a solo show to an historical female artist was in 2020! It’s amazing facts like that that make Hessel’s book on women in the history of art such a revelation. Many examples of erasure are detailed – misattribution being suspiciously common. Hessel’s bigger argument is that “the story of art would not be the rich, eclectic, challenging one we know today if [the making of the art] had been reserved solely for men”. An interview is here.