LINDA NOCHLIN’S (ANTI-)METHOD: CRITICISM AND APPROPRIA-TION IN CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST ART HISTORY
Keywords:
Feminist art history; Linda Nochlin; feminist art; gendered art history.Abstract
A pioneer of feminist art history, Linda Nochlin (1931–2017) was the first who interpreted the problem of female invisibility in general art history in 1971. While laying the foundation for feminist discourse in art history, she also developed her method of analyzing feminist art, rediscovered women artists from the past, and reinforced the notion of the female gaze in studies of both feminist art and representations of female images from general art history. There is no similar seminal text in contemporary scholarship that define the narrative of feminist art and methods of working with it in such detail, hence turning to Nochlin is necessary for analysis of such art today. The author of the article raised the question of the possible similarity of Nochlin’s method with the methods of other feminist art researchers up to the present day. For this purpose, the author examined the personality of Nochlin, defined her method, and analyzed it in terms of criticism and appropriation from other researchers, including Griselda Pollock, Roscica Parker, and Naomi Brud. The author’s reference to Nochlin’s method made it possible to actualize approaches to feminist art today and to understand the methods of working with feminist art today. Thus, by demonstrating Nochlin’s method on certain visual examples, as well as by analyzing the criticism and appropriation of Nochlin’s method by other researchers, the author managed to outline new vectors of studying and addressing both the method itself and feminist art today in general.
References
Art History Oral Documentation Project (2000) The Feminist Turn in the Social History of Art: Linda Nochlin interviewed by Richard Cándida Smith. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Trust, p. 19-46.
Beauvoir, S. (1997) Vtoroi pol [The Second Sex]. Moscow: Progress Publ. (in Russian)
Berger, J. (2012) Iskusstvo videt’ [Ways of Seeing]. Saint Petersburg: Klaudberri Publ. (in Russian)
Broude, N., Garrard, M. D. (1992) The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History. New York: Harper Collins.
Bryson, V. (2001) Politicheskaia teoriia feminisma [Feminist Political Theory]. Moscow: Idea-Press Publ. (in Russian)
Bulanova-Duvalko, L. F. (2015) ‘Philosophical Aspects of Understanding the Trend of Feminist Aesthetics’, Studia Humanities [Online], 3. Available at: http://st-hum.ru/content/bulanova-duvalko-lf-filosofskie-aspekty-ponimaniya-napravleniya-feministskoy-estetiki (accessed: 5 May 2022). (in Russian)
Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter. On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York and London: Routledge.
Gobozov, L. A. (1994) ‘Althusser – An Outstanding French Marxist Philosopher of the 20th Century’, Philosofia i Obshchestvo [Philosophy and Society], p. 146-163. (in Russian)
Harris, A. S., Nochlin, L. (1976) Women Artists 1550–1950. New York: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Alfred A. Knopf.
Mulvey, L (2000) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinematography’, in: Gapova, E. et al. Antologia gendernikh issledovanii [Anthology of Gender Studies]. Moscow: Propilei Publ., p. 281-296. (in Russian)
Nochlin, L. (1999) Representing Women. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Nochlin, L. (1989) Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays. New York : Harper & Row.
Parker, R., Pollock, G. (1981) Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology. New York: Pandora Press.
Pollock, G. (1995) ‘Beholding Art History: Vision, Place and Power’, in: Vision and Textuality. Durham: Duke University Press, p. 38-49.
Reilly, M. (2018) Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating. London: Thames & Hudson.
Reilly, M., Nochlin, L. (2015). Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader. London: Thames & Hudson.
Reilly, M. (2015) Taking the Measure of Sexism: Facts, Figures, and Fixes [Online] Available at: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/taking-the-measure-of-sexism-facts-figures-and-fixes-4111 (Accessed: 05 May 2022).
