Linda Nochlin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Linda Nochlin
Born	Linda Weinberg (1931-01-30)January 30, 1931 New York City, United States
Died	October 29, 2017(2017-10-29) (aged 86)
Education	Vassar College Columbia University New York University
Occupation	Art historian
Scientific career
Notable students	Susan Casteras

Linda Nochlin (born Weinberg; January 30, 1931 – October 29, 2017) was an American art historian. She was a professor of modern art at New York University Institute of Fine Arts. Linda Nochlin was famous for her important work in feminist art history.

She wrote a very influential article in 1971 called "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?". This article was published in a magazine called ARTnews. It made people think differently about women in art.

Early life and education

Linda Natalie Weinberg was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were Jules and Elka Weinberg. She grew up in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn.

She went to Brooklyn Ethical Cultural School, which was a special school. Linda earned her first degree in Philosophy from Vassar College in 1951. Then, she got a master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1952. In 1963, she received her Ph.D. in history of art from New York University.

Academic career and art exhibitions

Linda Nochlin taught art history at several universities. These included Yale University and the City University of New York. She also taught at Vassar College. Later, she joined the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She taught there until she retired in 2013.

Her work often looked at how gender affects art. She explored how art is made and how people see it. She also studied Realism, especially the works of Gustave Courbet.

Linda Nochlin also helped organize many important art shows. These shows highlighted the history and achievements of female artists.

• In 2007, she co-curated "Global Feminisms" at the Brooklyn Museum.
• In 1976, she co-curated "Women Artists: 1550-1950" with Ann Sutherland Harris. This show was at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Global Feminisms exhibition

In March 2007, Linda Nochlin helped organize the "Global Feminisms" art show. She worked with Maura Reilly at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. This was the first international show focused only on feminist art.

It showed art from about 88 women artists from all over the world. The exhibit included many types of art, like photography, video, and painting. The goal was to show different ideas of feminism from a global view.

Women Artists: 1550-1950 exhibition

Linda Nochlin also co-curated "Women Artists: 1550-1950". This was the first international art show created only by female artists. It opened on December 21, 1976. The show featured 83 artists from 12 countries. It included about 150 European American paintings.

In the show's book, Linda Nochlin and Ann Sutherland Harris explained their goal. They wanted to make the achievements of talented women artists more known. They believed these artists were often ignored because of their gender. The exhibition traveled to four cities. It started in Los Angeles, California. Then it went to Austin, Texas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and finally to the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

Feminist art history ideas

In 1971, ARTnews published Linda Nochlin's famous essay. It was titled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" In this essay, she questioned why people thought there were no great women artists. She looked at how society and art history were set up.

Nochlin argued that women faced many barriers in art. For example, they were often not allowed to study art in academies. She also said that the idea of artistic genius was mostly given to men. Thirty years later, in 2001, a conference was held about her essay.

In her 1994 essay, "Starting from Scratch: The Beginnings of Feminist Art History," Nochlin shared her journey. She explained how she became a feminist. She said that in 1969, she had a baby, became a feminist, and started the first class on Women and Art at Vassar College.

Nochlin encouraged art historians to look closely at art. She wanted them to understand how a feminist spirit might be present in the artwork.

Orientalism in art

Linda Nochlin was one of the first art historians to use ideas from Edward Said's book Orientalism. She applied these ideas to art history in her 1983 paper, "The Imaginary Orient." She argued that art showing the "Orient" (Eastern cultures) must be seen through the lens of power. This meant understanding the colonialism of the 19th century.

Nochlin focused on 19th-century French artists like Jean-Léon Gérôme and Eugène Delacroix. These artists painted "Orientalist" scenes. For example, Gérôme's "The Snake Charmer" looked very real. But Nochlin said it was a Western idea of a mysterious world, not a true picture.

Representing women in art

In her book Representing Women, Linda Nochlin looked at how women were shown in 19th-century art. She explored how artists portrayed women. She also examined how these portrayals reflected ideas about gender at the time.

Nochlin believed that there isn't one perfect way to study art. She said that understanding how women are shown in art is important. It helps us see how artists and society viewed women.

Why Have There Been No Great Women Chefs?

Linda Nochlin's essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" influenced many fields. It made people think about women's recognition in other jobs too. For example, Charlotte Druckman wrote an essay called "Why Have There Been No Great Women Chefs?"

Druckman looked at the words cook and chef. She noted that cook is often linked to women, while chef is linked to men. She argued that even though society has changed, this idea still exists. She used Nochlin's arguments to ask why these differences exist and how we might be part of keeping them going.

Personal life

Linda Nochlin was married twice. Her first husband was Philip H. Nochlin, who passed away in 1960. In 1968, she married Richard Pommer, who was an architectural historian.

Linda Nochlin had two daughters. Her daughter Jessica was from her first marriage. Her daughter Daisy was from her second marriage. The artist Alice Neel painted a picture of Linda and Daisy in 1973.

Linda Nochlin passed away on October 29, 2017, at the age of 86.

Awards and honors

Linda Nochlin received many awards for her important work:

• 1967: Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize for the best article in The Art Bulletin
• 1977: Woman of the Year, Mademoiselle magazine
• 1978: Frank Jewett Mather Prize for Critical Writing
• 1984-1985: Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1985: Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study
• 2003: Honorary Doctorate, Harvard University
• 2006: Visionary Woman Award, Moore College of Art & Design
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Fellow, New York University's Institute for the Humanities
• Fellow, American Philosophical Society

Selected publications

Linda Nochlin wrote many books and articles. Her writings include 156 works in 280 publications. They are available in 12 languages.

• Nochlin, Linda; Reilly, Maura (2015). Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500239292.
• Nochlin, Linda (2007). Courbet (1. publ. ed.). New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500286760.
• Nochlin, Linda (2006). Bathers, bodies, beauty : the visceral eye. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674021169. https://archive.org/details/bathersbodiesbea00noch.
• Nochlin, Linda. "'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' Thirty Years After." Women Artists at the Millennium. Ed. Carol Armstrong and Catherine de Zegher. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-262-01226-3; OCLC 223446291
• Nochlin, Linda (2001). The body in pieces: the fragment as a metaphor of modernity. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500283052. https://archive.org/details/bodyinpiecesfrag0000noch.
• Nochlin, Linda (1999). Representing women. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500280983.
• Nochlin, Linda. "Issues of Gender in Cassatt and Eakins." Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. Ed. Thomas Crow, Brian Lukacher, Linda Nochlin and Frances K. Pohl. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-500-28683-8; ISBN: 0-500-28683-3; OCLC 137221626
• Nochlin, Linda (1991). The politics of vision: essays on nineteenth-century art and society (2. [print.]. ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0064301877. https://archive.org/details/politicsofvision00lind.
• Nochlin, Linda (1988). Women, art, and power, and other essays.. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0064301834. https://archive.org/details/womenartpoweroth0000noch.
• Nochlin, Linda. "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" ARTnews January 1971: 22-39, 67-71.
• Nochlin, Linda. "Realism." New York: Penguin Books, 1971. Library of Congress 71-149557.

See also

In Spanish: Linda Nochlin para niños