Exploration #6 Part II: Planning Individual Lessons within the Unit

Making Room for Women

ENDURING IDEA:

Gender is a culturally constructed idea that has been used to suppress the female artists in the cannon of western art and shapes the way we view, interpret, and create art. 

 LESSON ONE: Why have there been no Great women artists? 

 GRADE OR CLASS: High School/College Art History Survey Course

 TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 Class Discussions

 LESSON SUMMARY: This lesson introduces the gender inequalities that are present in the under representation of women in the history of art. Identifies women throughout history who have been excluded from the cannon and begins the questioning of this practice and challenges students to consider how a feminist lens can change the way we look at art made throughout history. 

 ARTWORKS, ARTISTS and/or ARTIFACTS:

•                Linda Nochlin’s “Why have there been no great women artists?”

•                Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, Encounter V: Gender Matters in Art History 

•                Examples of recognizable and familiar female artists:

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – c. 1652)

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986)

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Judy Chicago (1939)

 KEY CONCEPTS addressed in this lesson:

•       Current and past culture constructs and shapes the way in which we view, interpret, and interact with art.

•       Femininity v Masculinity: Gender is a socially constructed idea that serves to empower the privileged and oppress the marginalized.

 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS addressed in this lesson:

• How has and does culture define the artist and his/her role? Within this definition, who is excluded? What do these exclusions reveal about the culture?
• What is gender? Where do we see evidence of gender in art? Where do we not?
•  What does it mean to be a female artist? How does this impact the way in which art is viewed, how we are taught and expected to view and the expectations we have of artists and art in general?

  
  

  INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS

  History, Writing/Research/English

  
  

  
  

  LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

  Students will:

  ·      Identify and understand gender inequalities in the arts.

  ·      Identify the most familiar/popular female artists and discuss the possible reasons for their recognition and acceptance into the cannon.

  ·      Gain greater insight into women’s history by studying the women included in the Dinner Party.

  ·      Identify the social and political structures that create and impose these inequalities.

  ·      Compare and contrast works and lives of female artists with their male contemporaries.

  ·      Consider how gender influences artistic choices.

  ·      Discuss the contributions of women to the arts and history.

  ·      Identify, research, and create an ongoing list of women in the arts.

  
  

  ASSESSMENT 

  Students will be assessed on participation in discussions and contributions to the ongoing list of women in the arts created by the group. Students will be expected to present their ideas informally to the group in discussion and formally in an "extending the invitation" exercise (similar to that found in Judy Chicago's DPCP). 

  
  

  PREPARATION

  Teacher Research and Preparation:

  Read and become familiar with Linda Nochlin’s “Why have there been no great women artists?” and Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, Article on Feminism &  Encounter V: Gender Matters in Art History.

  Find examples of artists and their work listed in ARTWORKS, ARTISTS and/or ARTIFACTS.

  
  

  
  

  Resources: 

   Linda Nochlin’s “Why have there been no great women artists?”

  Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, Encounter V: Gender Matters in Art History