Art gallery for women only

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33230, 21 May 1973, Page 7

Art gallery for women only

(By

JENNY RODWELL,

of Reuter, through N.Z.P.A.)

NEW YORK. A group of American women, incensed by what they call unfair treatment by the “male-dominated” art world, have successfullyestablished their own art gallery in New York for women only.

The women are prominent in a growing New York movement campaigning for female independence in the arts and publishing. The 20 women members of the Artists in Residence women’s co-operative gallery are not newcomers to the art scene. Their average age is around 35, and many, like Blythe Bohnen, have had their work exhibited in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum.

The women of the A.I.R. are not the only ones who feel strongly about the lack of enthusiasm for professional women, in both art and literature.

A women’s art registry has already been set up in New York to guide dealers to the overlooked work of women, and a publishing firm — Daughters Inc.—has also opened, dealing only with women authors. WELL ESTABLISHED

The A.I.R. women say they are firmly established after opening their own gallery several months ago. Salvaged by the women themselves from a derelict room in a Manhattan street of shabby warehouses, the gallery’ is now attracting more than 200 visitors a week. Reviews of its exhibitions have been favourable and the women say they are “satisfied” with sales. The gallery is run entirely by women, using their time and money as economically as possible. They need their time to work and the gallery takes no commission from sales. The gallery’s legal adviser accepts art in lieu of a fee.

So far they have not attracted commercial dealers—a major aim. But some of the women have been approached by museums—including the New York Cultural Centre and the Whitney Museum — which are interested in exhibiting the women’s work in group shows. But, despite the success of the women-only gallery some of the women artists’ home lives have suffered. Daria Darosh, one of the artists, explained. "One' woman is now divorced; two more have split with their boyfriends.” Future plans for the gallery are indefinite, but for the present it will continue

as it is—“A means for women to survive as artists,” as members describe it. When the 20 members have each shown their work, which they are doing in pairs for periods of three weeks, the gallery intends to show work by other women artists. The gallery runs an advisory service for the use of other women interested in starting their own co-opera-tives. It also arranges lectures on the subject at art schools. Workshop sessions attracting from 40 to 50 artists are held every week, with the help of a small grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Women artists, critics and other women specialists, including experts on practcal problems such as artists’ tax problems, are invited to speak. The existence of the A.I.R. gallery has raised doubts about whether women should isolate themselves. A male artist walked into the gallery and announced that he did not believe in segregation of the sexes in the arts.

“It seems strange,” one woman reflected, "that these male artists did not express their objections to this principle during the many years when there were so many allmale exhibitions.” ■