CLASS DESCRIPTION

In 2013 Georg Baselitz first declared that 'women don't paint very well'. Whilst shocking, his comments reveal what Helen Gørrill argues is continuing and worsening prolific discrimination in the artworld. 

In a groundbreaking study of gender and value, Gørrill proves that there are few aesthetic differences in men and women's painting, but that men's art is valued at up to 90 per cent more than women's. Indeed, the power of masculinity is such that when men sign their work it goes up in value, yet when women sign their work it goes down. Female artists have deliberately adopted more ‘masculine’ ways of painting in order to be validated, such that a new ‘androgynous aesthetics’ in contemporary painting is on the rise. 

Museums, Helen attests, are also complicit in this vicious cycle as they collect tokenist female artwork which impinges upon its artists' market value. Helen’s research is provocative and challenges existing methodologies whilst introducing shocking evidence. She proves how the price of being a woman impacts upon all forms of artistic currency, be it social, cultural or economic and in the vanguard of the 'Me Too' movement calls for the artworld to take action. 
This lecture presents both evidence compiled for Dr Gørrill’s PhD and subsequent bestselling academic text Women Can’t Paint: Gender, the Glass Ceiling and Values in Contemporary Art; together with new evidence compiled five years on since #metoo. 

Helen will also introduce a new future art history which includes works from both the UK and Europe created to address gender inequalities in the artworld.

ABOUT OUR LECTURER

Dr Helen Gørrill (she/her) is Reader in Gender and Visual Culture at the University of Dundee, Scotland. She holds a PhD co-supervised by the Royal College of Art, titled 'The Gendered Economic and Symbolic Values in Contemporary British Painting'. Helen is currently in a three-book deal with Bloomsbury (London & New York), including her bestselling academic book Women Can’t Paint: Gender, the Glass Ceiling and Values in Contemporary Art. Her book Women Can’t Paint is held in the permanent research collections of the V&A, the Met (New York), MoMA (NY), Baltic, Tate Britain, and multiple international museums. Helen’s artwork is included in the Brooklyn Museum’s artabase archive (New York) and private national/international collections. As an academic she applies disruptive techniques to challenge stagnancy in gender equality, feminist methodologies and the visual arts; and applies quantitative and mixed-methods research to painting theory which is expanded through her interest in gender.

INSTAGRAM: @houseofgorrill
WEBSITE: www.helengorrill.com

–

This is a recording of a live session hosted by The Feminist Lecture Program in May 2025. The reading list for the class can be found alongside this rental.

–

Check out The Feminist Lecture Program's term of live classes on our Outsavvy Page: https://www.outsavvy.com/organiser/the-feminist-lecture-program
Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @thefeministlectureprogram to stay up to date with our archive, live classes and more. If you have any questions, you can DM us on Instagram, or drop us an email at [email protected].

Happy watching!
FLP x