Situation Report

WOMEN artists have been given a rough time. The crime has not been discrimination but a lack of perception." So says Thomas Roving, director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Women today constitute about 75% of the art school students; for those who go on to become professional artists, the road is hard.

THE GALLERIES. In Manhattan, the leading art marketplace, the 100 principal modern art galleries represent about 1,000 artists. Of these, 20% are women. Last month a survey of commercial galleries across the nation showed only 18% displaying works by women.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS. A sale to a museum is the mark of acceptance in the art world. In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum's collection of contemporary art includes 10% by women. At the Museum of Modern Art, women provide 9% of the collection; at Washington's Corcoran Gallery 6%.

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS. In its 43-year history, the Museum of Modern Art has mounted 1.000 one-artist exhibits. Only five were by women. At the Whitney, eight out of 129 one-artist shows in the last decade were by women, and at the Corcoran, there were four women out of 80. Of 52 such shows at the Los Angeles County Museum, none has been by a woman.

SURVEYS. The survey shows held by some museums are catalysts for new talent. At the 1969 Whitney Painting Annual, 6% of the artists were women. This year the figure rose to 24%. Last year's Corcoran Biennial had no women among 21 artists; the 1971 Young Los Angeles Artists show had three women out of 24.

ARCHITECTURE. Women architects have fared even worse than painters. Only 6% of the students in architecture schools are women, and only 1% of the members of the American Institute of Architects.

In art, of course, statistics are not so important as the quality of talent, but it is hard to believe that women are as untalented as the statistics imply.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.