Women Artists: Who Do They Think They Are?

Try this sometime: ask someone to name five famous women artists.

I asked someone this today—a college graduate, by the way. They rolled their eyes up for a minute or so and finally blurted out, "I know ... Grandma Moses!"

The same question was asked to people on museum steps throughout the U.S.

"Name some famous women artists you know about."

"Ahhh? Hmmm? Let's see ... wasn't there a Mary? Mary ... can't remember her last name."

Many people were unable to name even one!

There is a new documentary out created by the organization U.N. Women titled Who Does She Think She Is? Click right here to watch the trailer.

The film is about the plight of women artists in the United States. One might think that a country such as ours would be a leader in the advancement of women artists. Not so. There seems to be an age-old concept among the hoi palloi that women are "less than" when it comes to art. Even though the art colleges in the United States are comprised of 80-90 percent women, the amount of women artists achieving any substantial recognition in the art world is extremely low.

Another interesting fact is that of the few women artists who have achieved some notice, few, if any, were ever mothers. Considering that art is an important way for society to scan the psyche of itself, could it be that we really are not interested in how mothers feel or in how they see themselves or their role in society?

Considering how important motherhood is to the health of community, isn't is strange that we ignore artists who are mothers who might desperately be trying to speak up? It's noted in the documentary that the entire subject of motherhood is ghettoized in our museums when it comes to contemporary women who attempt to speak about it.

They say that one in four women in the U.S. are on antidepressants. And like they also say, "If Momma isn’t happy, nobody's happy." The rise in drug usage among teens speaks to that. What are women artists saying about their lives these days? What are they saying about how it feels to be a mother? Have they given up trying to be heard?

Maybe we need to start listening.