Citation

Hamashita M. Womens Stud. Forum (Kobe) 2004; 18: 101-115.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Kobe College)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

What do feminist art historians and gender critics intend to do? What will become of their activities in the future? Considering their development, we can detect three stages. The first can be called complementary one, that is, the claim of fair treatment of female artists in art historiography. Feminist art historians have made the greatest efforts to excavate women artists hidden or neglected deeply in history; most of them were, according to the claim, disregarded by male art historians. The second stage is that of disclosure, to expand historical topics discussed in the discipline of art history: those topics relating to motifs and subjects in terms female figures, e.g. Eve, Maria, Susanna in holy scriptures, and Venus, Diana in Greek myths. Also social problems around women, depicted in pictures such as the works in the Victorian Age, have been picked and treated to reveal the gaze and violence under the patriarchal system. Then, after "the complement" of the first stage and "the disclosure" of the second, the third stage may be that of challenge and confrontation against patriarchal regime all over not only in the art historians' society but also in society in general. The development of feminist art history and gender criticism has been mostly based on "constructivism", i.e. theoretical armament in defense of the rights, position and claim on the side of women.