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Authorship and the Woman Painter, Part I: General Overview - Page 2

© Jessica Cresseveur

Although many feminist scholars believe that the death of the author would be a positive thing, others disagree. Among them is Nancy K Miller, who argues that the author's death would not affect women in the same way it would men, as the two sexes have experienced different "historical relation[s] of identity to origin, institution, [and] production."(4) In other words, modern Western history has almost always denied women any claim to artistic agency. This is easily illustrated by the sheer lack of the term "genius" used in conjunction with women's names in mainstream art history. To jettison the author is to jettison any chance of a woman's claim to artistic agency.

Another issue to consider is that of attribution. Because mainstream art history tends to associate genius and agency with men, many high-quality paintings have been misattributed to male artists. In many cases, these are unsigned paintings produced in a similar style as the actual artists' male teachers. In others, the signature of the true artist was overpainted and replaced with a forged signature of a better-known male artist with a similar style--most likely to raise the painting's monetary value. Next month's article will focus on case studies of both instances.

While it is true that the death of the author would bring about equality through anonymity, it would also close the door on any chance for women to claim artistic agency. Progress toward gender equality in the art world is being made, albeit very slowly. Perhaps after the mainstream canon finally recognises equality, we can then take steps towards the insignificance of the artist's identity.

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WORKS CITED

(1) Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author." Image-Music-Text (London: Fontana, 1977): 142-148.

(2) Christine Battersby, Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetics (London: The Women's Press Ltd., 1989): 36.

* In short, the application of various other disciplines to art history.

(3) Denis Coekelberghs and Pierre Loze, "David à Bruxelles et la peinture en Belgique." David contre David : Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le service culturel du 6 au 10 décembre 1989 ed. Régis Michel, Tome II, (Paris : La Documentation française, 1993): 1060. Coekelberghs and Loze's paper, written in French, uses the phrase "composition charmante." (Translation mine.)

(4) Nancy K Miller, "Changing the Subject: Authorship, Writing, and the Reader." Subject to Change: Reading Feminist Writing (New York: Columbia UP, 1988): 106.

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