Linda Nokhlin

North American art historian, professor, and writer, one of the leading specialists in the study of the history of feminist art.

Author of 156 works, collected in 280 publications in 12 languages, including the well-known article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”

Nochlin published 156 works in 12 languages, examining how gender affects the perception of art. In addition to feminist art history, she is known for her work on Realism, in particular on the art of Courbet.

Nochlin analyzes art history through the identification and rejection of methodological biases. Throughout her professional career, she was an active advocate of an approach in which “art historians, studying works, focus on their meaning and possess sensitivity to their feminist spirit.”

In 1971, ArtNews published Nochlin’s essay, which marked the beginning of an entire branch of art history as a discipline. The work “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” examined the reasons that “greatness” in artistic achievement had always been reserved for male geniuses such as Michelangelo. Nochlin argues that social prejudice against women seriously engaged in art, restrictions on women’s education in art academies, and “the whole romantic, elitist system oriented toward celebrating individuals and publishing monographs on which the profession of art historians is based” systematically hindered the emergence of great women artists.

On the thirtieth anniversary of her revolutionary work, Nochlin presented it at a conference at Princeton University in 2001. The book that resulted from the conference includes Nochlin’s essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? Thirty Years After.” As part of this conference and in the book, art historians noted the innovative work of such figures as Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Francesca Woodman, Carrie Mae Weems, and Mona Hatoum.