Tag: women in art history

Clara Peeters was one of the earliest artists to specialize in still life, quietly establishing her presence in art history through meticulously painted objects, hidden self-portraits, and tiny reflections of herself. Her paintings reveal a fascinating world of food, wealth, trade, craftsmanship, and identity.

For generations, women were encouraged to make art but discouraged from becoming professional artists. This article explores how women challenged exclusion from nineteenth-century art academies, fought for access to life drawing and professional education, and built their own institutions when established ones refused them.

The gender gap is real. You’re not overthinking it. If you’ve ever looked around at an exhibition lineup or flipped through an art fair catalog and quietly wondered why there are still so few women, your instinct was right. The numbers back it up, and they’ve been doing so for years. But understanding how to read those numbers is where things start to get really interesting. Art market reports love clean charts and polished graphs, but behind those visuals are messy truths. They show that for every celebrated female artist, there…