Author, Academic, Arts Editor and Artist
Forthcoming announcement of new book in the Drawing Conversations series. Body, Space, Place in Collective and Collaborative Drawing will be published by Cambridge Scholars in 2019, edited by myself, Jill Journeaux and Sara Reed, with some superb chapters in progress. Please don’t hesitate to contact me (or Jill/Sara) for further details or to be added to the mailing list for the Drawing Conversations series of events and publications.
Here’s the publisher’s blurb for my forthcoming book Women Can’t Paint: Gender, the Glass Ceiling and Values in Contemporary Art (I.B. Tauris).
“In 2013 Georg Baselitz declared that ‘women don’t paint very well’. Whilst shocking, his comments reveal what Helen Gorrill argues is prolific discrimination in the artworld. In a groundbreaking study of gender and value, Gorrill proves that there are few aesthetic differences in men and women’s painting, but that men’s art is valued at up to 80 per cent more than women’s. Indeed, the power of masculinity is such that when men sign their work it goes up in value, yet when women sign their work it goes down. Museums, the author attests, are also complicit in this vicious cycle as they collect tokenist female artwork which impinges upon its artists’ market value. An essential text for students and teachers, Gorrill’s book is provocative and challenges existing methodologies whilst introducing shocking evidence. She proves how the price of being a woman impacts upon all forms of artistic currency, be it social, cultural or economic and in the vanguard of the ‘Me Too’ movement calls for the artworld to take action.”
Please follow the link for chapter contents: https://drhelengorrill.com/projects/
My new book (forthcoming) Women Can’t Paint is a provocative exposé of art’s gendered values. It cuts speculation and evidences that there are few aesthetic differences in men’s and women’s painting, yet museums ignore women’s work and their art is worth up to 80 per cent less than men’s. The brand of masculinity is so powerful that when work is signed by a male artist it goes up in value, yet work signed by a female artist goes down in value. This groundbreaking study challenges established methodologies and theories: in the aftermath of ‘Me Too’, it’s time for the artworld to sit up and take note.
Women Can’t Paint: Gender, the Glass Ceiling and Values in Contemporary Art, by Helen Gorrill – published by I.B. Tauris, September 2018.
#womencantpaint
Dr Helen Gorrill 