Baselitz on women artists
September 12 2022
In The Guardian, Jonathan Jones has interviewed Georg Baselitz, and in particular about his views on women artists:
But Baselitz’s edgy remarks can sometimes get him into scrapes. In 2013, he was quoted in Der Spiegel as saying: “Women don’t paint very well.” A couple of years later, he doubled down on that, telling the Guardian: “The market doesn’t lie. Even though the painting classes in art academies are more than 90% made up by women, it’s a fact that very few of them succeed. It’s nothing to do with education, or chances, or male gallery owners. It’s to do with something else and it’s not my job to answer why it’s so. It doesn’t just apply to painting, either, but also music.”
These words have become a millstone. So. I wonder, has he changed his mind?
On the contrary.
Baselitz is right that for too long the current contemporary art market has placed far more 'value' on male artists than female artists. It's more than a little tragic that he cannot see the underlying structural reasons for such an imbalance, and worse, for someone in his position, that he is reluctant to do anything about it. More here.
