The Story of Art: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

Katherine Pill, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, will discuss Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? This provocative discussion examines art historian Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay, an epic examination of the institutional obstacles that prevented women from succeeding in the arts.

Katherine will discuss the recent reattribution of a significant artwork in the MFA Collection. In 1969, the MFA received a remarkable pastel portrait widely believed to be created by the renowned British painter Francis Cotes. The portrait’s subject, an elegant woman wearing a fur-trimmed coat, was identified as Cotes’ wife, whom he married in 1765. This attribution went unquestioned for over half a century until it was recently discovered to be incorrect. Current scholarship strongly indicates that the work is, in fact, by Katherine Read, an equally important artist who, despite her historical under-recognition, deserves appreciation.