This course commenced on 1 March. Enrolments have been extended to midnight on Sunday 14 March. Once enrolled you can start the course at any time. Please allow up to 72 hours to receive your login details. Access to the course content is available until 25 April.
Women have always made art, but for centuries formal recognition of their work has been hampered by patriarchal social, cultural and economic structures.
Learn about the unique contributions of women to the art world through a study of historical and contemporary art and design from Europe, Asia and Australia in the NGV Collection.
Complete the course in your own time. Access to the course will be available from 10am on Monday 1 March.
ENROLMENT OPTIONS
Basic Course Enrolment
M $44 / A $49
Includes 8-week access to learning materials from the course start date (Monday 1 March). Access will expire at midnight on Sunday 25 April.
Premium Course Enrolment
M $134 / A $149
Includes 8-week access to the learning materials from the course start date (Monday 1 March) and five lunchtime virtual study sessions led by an NGV educator providing an opportunity to discuss the weekly content in a small-group setting. Access will expire at midnight on Sunday 25 April.
Capacity is limited to 20 people for this enrolment. Lunchtime study sessions are delivered online via Webex each week on the following dates and times.
- Thursday 4 March, 12–1pm
- Thursday 11 March, 12–1pm
- Thursday 18 March, 12–1pm
- Thursday 25 March, 12–1pm
- Thursday 1 April, 12–1pm
Capacity for Premium Enrolment has been reached.
SYLLABUS
Week 1: What Does it Mean to Study Women Artists?
Fifty years ago, American art historian Linda Nochlin posed a question that reverberated throughout the art world: ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ Nochlin’s challenge sparked a wave of new research and exhibitions that centralised women in the story of art history. As the NGV actively builds its collection of historical and contemporary women artists, we explore how women’s experiences have been shaped by their race, class and sexuality as well as by their gender.
Week 2: Departure From Tradition
Discover how women artists have been at the forefront of new, experimental, and avant-garde art and design movements.
Week 3: Feminisms
Learn about the ways women artists have historically fought for recognition, the emergence of the feminist art movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and how feminist artists have responded to postcolonialism, influenced emerging practices such as performance art and installation art, and continue to engage with evolving ideas around feminism today.
Week 4: The Body
How have women artists and designers privileged the body as sites for discussions around gender, identity and feminism?
Week 5: Craftswomen and Designers
Discover the work of female designers and makers across Europe, Asia, America and Australia, including historical works attributed to anonymous craftswomen and cutting-edge designs by female pioneers of the modern movement and contemporary practice.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- Discuss the key issues and debates surrounding the recognition of women artists, including new scholarship
- Identify and discuss key works in the NGV Collection created by women artists and designers
- Analyse how women artists and designers have responded to the obstacles they have faced throughout history and continue to face today
- Discuss the principles of feminist art