It was only in the late 19th century that ‘lady’ students were admitted to life drawing classes at the Royal Academy, and even then the models had to be partially clothed.
Lack of access to professional training was the most serious obstacle for female artists seeking a way into the canon. If this now seems an uncomplicated assertion, it didn’t in 1971. Feigen was looking at things the wrong way: no amount of digging up and recovering under-recognised women artists would change the fact that if it was hard for a woman to establish herself as an artist, it was ‘institutionally impossible’ for her to be a great one. Nochlin argued that while it was easy enough to come up with a list of interesting or exciting contemporary women artists, producing a list of ‘great’ ones was impossible because ‘greatness’ is bestowed by those in power – in this case, by the institutions to which women have traditionally been refused access. Her response came a year later in the form of an essay that appropriated Feigen’s question for its title. Stumped for an answer at the time, Nochlin continued to consider the question. The problem was he couldn’t find any good enough. He would love, he said, to show women artists. T he question ‘Why are there no great women artists?’ was first put to Linda Nochlin in 1970 by the New York gallerist Richard Feigen.
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