Confronting Greatness (Spring 2021)

“Confronting Greatness” celebrates the 50th anniversary of Linda Nochlin’s groundbreaking 1971 essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”. The article investigates and strives to dismantle the institutional obstacles faced by women that have prevented their being seen as “great” in the same sense as their male counterparts. This essay will be featured prominently within the exhibition. 

The exhibition was co-curated by the Miami University Art and Architecture History Capstone class under the direction of Annie Dell’Aria, Ph.D., Art History, during the Fall 2020 semester. Featured in the exhibition are works by renowned women artists including Kara Walker, Carolee Schneemann, Cindy Sherman, Audrey Flack, Miriam Schapiro, Louise Nevelson and Elizabeth Catlett. All of the featured artists are self-identifying women.

Professor Dell’Aria, the Capstone’s advisor,  expects that the exhibition “starts conversations, shakes things up, and foregrounds the diverse methods of women artists. By calling attention to this all-women roster, it will hopefully both prompt viewers to question how we do or do not consider gender when looking at art and impart expectations of inclusion and a diversity of voices.”

The majority of the artworks are in the MUAM collection, with the exception of pieces graciously loaned from the personal collection of Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell.

VIEW ONLINE EXHIBITION HERE

CLASS (STUDENT CURATORIAL) Participants

Erin Adelman | Casey Bergman | Ben Calderon | Halle Campbell | Jillian Cofskey | Morgan Eakin | Nina Grotto | Claire Haitsch | Sydney Herrick | Jane Keady | Ben Krautheim  Ashlyn Lazor | Alex Morse | Carmen Perez | Jess Phillips | Syd Rivera | John Rozelle | Sammy Sleeth | Aspen Stein | Aubrey Woodard

Dr. Annie Dell’Aria, Professor