Individual Study Issue #1-Savannah Zupan

     The topic I selected for the project is the politics of museums and gender Inequality. My first choice for the project was the #Metoo movement in the art world. Conveniently for my research, the #Metoo movement within the art world is inextricably linked to the politics of museums and gender inequality within these institutions. The art world has been dominated by white cis-gendered men for generations and it has created an environment that fosters imbalances of power that lead to larger issues like gender inequality. The art world continues to support and uplift these men, and we still see the effects of it today in our museums and art communities.  So, for this study issue blog, I thought I would dive into the #Metoo movement and how it relates to gender inequality in art museums at large.

    Art Museums in the Age of #Metoo, a research paper by Laura Lawson Kistler; discusses how museums continue to support men who have been accused of sexual misconduct; applicable long-term and short-term strategies to this issue; and the impacts of it on gender inequality. The art world has been run by primarily white, cis-gendered men since the beginning, and instances of sexual misconduct between these men and their students, models, and colleagues have been an issue for just as long. Looking back on history, “ many artists firmly established in the canon of art history have long been considered persons of questionable moral character, many of whom mistreated women and girls— Benvenuto Cellini, Carravaggio, Egon Schiele, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Gauguin”(Kistler, 2019) and there are definitely many more examples. 

The women these men abused are not around anymore to share their stories. The #Metoo movement can bring to light how these issues still occur today, giving the living survivors a voice and a sense of agency over their experience. This movement forces “museums to turn the contemporary lens toward the past and consider artists long believed to have had both exceptional artistic talent and dubious moral character,” and “provides an opportunity to begin discussions about artists now and in the past who demonstrated problematic personal behavior and to explore how and why art museums should respond” (Kistler, 2019). The scope of this movement is much larger than we think. 

There is still a huge disparity between men and women in the art world. Today, “Women hold less than half of all leadership positions in museums in the US and earn less than their male counterparts” and this lack of leadership roles ultimately means “that men are most often deciding what art gets displayed and what stories get told (Kistler, 2019).” This causes institutions to continue the insidious cycles of supporting abusers, and further alienating artists who were affected by them. 

Despite the #Metoo movement, “representation of women artists in exhibitions is abysmally low: in almost six hundred major exhibitions in nearly seventy US institutions from 2007-2013, only twenty-seven percent were dedicated to women artists” (“Get the Facts”). There needs to be a balance between honesty and effort to support and uplift women. The issue goes much deeper than gender inequality, especially under a lens that prioritizes intersectionality. Museums and institutions need to be held accountable, tell the truth, and use their status and power to uplift more marginalized groups of people.
The emergence of #metoo starts conversations within institutions to take responsibility for the people they choose to represent. In the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, a 1938 Balthus painting titled Thérèse Dreaming hangs in a gallery. The painting depicts a 12-year-old girl, sitting back in a relaxed position, her legs slightly open with a view of her underwear (Artdex). Many people have expressed discomfort with this series and have petitioned to have it removed from the gallery for its creepy and suggestive nature. The Met did not take this series down. 

As a response to the criticism, The Met’s chief commissioner of communications, Ken Wiene, said: “Monuments such as this provide an opportunity for conversation, and visual art is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past and the present and encouraging the continuing evolution of existing culture through informed discuss and respect for creative expression”(Artdex). The Met, instead, included a label warning viewers that the work they were about to see might be disturbing to viewers. I think that a disclaimer is an important place to start.  

In Kistler’s research paper, she discusses strategies that museums can apply to address the past and lead to a more inclusive future. Similar to The Met situation and Balthus, Kistler encourages more institutions to include labels and context that are completely transparent. Kistler writes, “In acknowledging accusations against an individual, museums are providing as much accurate context as possible and fulfilling their ethical obligation to tell the truth with exhibitions.”

In 2018, The Boston Globe reported that photographer Nicholas Nixon was accused of sexual harassment by several women, including many of his past students. He has asked several of his students to pose nude, submit photos of their genitals, and many more inappropriate propositions (Lazar, Gay 2018). These students never filed a report because of the power imbalance between teacher and student.  At the same time this news came out, Nixon’s photography was on display at the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Despite the allegations, his show at the gallery remained open, and the ICA released a statement of being completely honest about the allegations (Lazar, Gay 2018). Separating the art from the artist is a harmful saying in a world where sexual abuse is so common but kept so hidden. Telling the truth is a good place to start. 

It is common for people who do not understand and empathize with this issue to believe that the #metoo movement is ruining the lives and careers of men with great potential. These men have already had the upper hand for years, and obviously being accused and guilty of sexual misconduct is not going to stop them from making work, succeeding, and feeling entitled to their space in the art world. Erasing these men from history will just make history repeat, and that is not what we want. I think people should know the truth about them. This behavior is unacceptable and always has been, and people need to know that. Galleries and museums are important cultural institutions that are in place to educate society. They should be held responsible for telling the truth and have more women and marginalized people in leadership positions to tell their stories. 

Works Cited 

“Where in the Art World for #MeToo Movement.”

ARTDEX. Accessed October 10, 2023. https://www.artdex.com/art-world-metoo-movement/. 

“Get the Facts.” 

National Museum of Women in the Arts, nmwa.org/advocate/get-facts. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023

Lazar, Kay and Malcolm Gay.

 “Sex, Power, and Photography. At Massart, How Far is Too Far?” The Boston Globe, 4 Apr. 2018, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/04/04/sex-powerand-photography-massart-classroom-how-far-toofar/9O4Yyd0CBlGSiW33Tb8tcI/story.html?s_campaign=bdc:article:stub. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023.