Review of Katy Hessel's 'The Story of Art Without Men'

The Story of Art Without Men does not tell the story of female artists, as if positioning them as something fantastical or unusual. It tells us of the ebbs and flows of art and history. It focuses on movements, political context, and ‘isms’ and tells of the women who made and were integral to these movements.

By not making it a book about women artists, and instead making it a book about art, Hessel shows the habitual deliberateness it takes to exclude womxn artists from the story of art. Womxn artists are not their own genre, yes, they pioneer their specific styles, but they are part of the well-known movements of which we only place men as the figureheads. Hessel removes the clamour of men from art's chronology and makes space for the art of womxn that were and are spoken over.

I am always hesitant to sensationalise and make heroines of womxn who simply exist, and it is difficult, and subjective, as to whether these are ‘women artists’ or ‘artists.’ Some may want their gender to be noted as it speaks to their inherent view of the world and position in it imposed on them and so defining in their career, whereas some may want to be known for their work and talent, disregarding their gender as unimportant; they are artists firstly. Many of these artists would not have defined themselves as feminists or even known the phrase, and not all art done by women is inherently feminist, just as art by men is not seen as 'masculine' or 'of the male experience'. But it is hard to not see it as such knowing their commitment to values that we see as feminist – mostly the word ‘no’.

What I do know, however, is a lot of the artists are easy to make into protagonists. Phrases like formidable, ambitious, anti-establishment, intense, non-conforming, abandoning of tradition, out-spoken and androgynous are used by many of these artists. And I love womxn who are described as such.

Arriving at cities they had never been to, many of the artists had abandoned their careers, husbands, and hometowns for faith in themselves, lust for life and belief in their art. These womxn chose to exist against a long-established grain, live for themselves, and unapologetically take up space in a sphere that tried to make no room for them.

They refused to exist as muses, wives of, nudes hung in galleries, and mothers of and instead chose art, creation, passion, and life.