Happy to share my research proposal for PhD! 🚀🚀🚀
PROCESSES OF #LEGITIMATION IN CONTEMPORARY ART: STRATEGIES OF POWER, #RECOGNITION, AND #REJECTION OF #WOMENARTISTS IN THE #NEWYORKSCHOOL
The study of Art History has been dominated by narratives that privilege male contributions, relegating the contributions of women artists to a secondary role. This phenomenon is especially evident in the context of #abstractart, perhaps the style that has been most carefully constructed as an example of vertical art: #masculine, #white, and #Western. For a long time, the very notion of abstract art was used to discriminate against women artists, and in this sense, the #NewYorkSchool — a central movement in the development of American abstract expressionism in the 20th century — is no exception. Despite their talent and significant contributions, most women artists in this group have been systematically excluded from official accounts and hegemonic cultural memory.
This research aims to analyze the processes of #legitimation in contemporary art, focusing on the strategies of #power, #recognition, and #rejection faced by #women artists of the #NewYorkSchool, reclaiming their contribution to the genesis and evolution of American abstract expressionism, thus questioning the dominant narratives that have excluded them.
The main hypothesis of this study is that #cocreation between women and men is an essential characteristic of 20th-century art — including American #abstractexpressionism — that has been systematically ignored by traditional historiography. Women artists of the New York School have been relegated to a secondary role instead of being recognized as creators in their own right.
To address this issue, the theoretical and methodological framework of the Sociology of Art will be used, especially the studies of Pierre #Bourdieu, Raymonde #Moulin, and Nathalie #Heinich. This approach highlights the social dimension of artistic activity and focuses on how socio-cultural conditions influence the production, dissemination, and legitimation of art. Tools from the #SociologyofArt will be used to unravel the mechanisms of #legitimation and #exclusion. Additionally, secondary lines of power and the connections between women artists and other important figures in the art system, such as patrons, collectors, and critics, will be explored.
“Writing feminist history is fundamentally about understanding and unveiling the system of judgment underlying the discipline of Art History and its value scale. The incorporation of the study of women deepens the analysis of power mechanisms and the symbolic ideology of a given era: strategies of acceptance and rejection, of exception and rule” (Serrano de Haro, 2024).
Artwork by Elaine de Kooning. “Bullfight”, 1959.
