5 things to know about Delaware Art Museums’ ‘Battle of the Sexes’

Just by looking at a piece of art, can you determine the gender of an artist?

This question was the inspiration behind The Philadelphia Women's Caucus for Art’s ongoing Battle of the Sexes exhibit, which is on view at the Delaware Art Museum until May 22. The exhibit features artwork by 26 artists (13 women and 13 men) and each piece lists the first initial of each artist’s first name and their entire last name.

Ballots are available for visitors to vote on whether each work was created by a female or male artist. On May 7, results will be tallied and posted at www.delart.org, along with the names and genders of the artists.

In order to conceal each artist’s identity for the exhibit, the Community News will only include the first initial of the first name for the participating artist we interviewed.

Here are five things to know about the exhibit.

1 Stereotypes persist.
“The only way I could guess is by relying on certain stereotypes that I know intellectually are outdated,” said Mary Holahan, the Museums’ curator of collections and exhibitions.

By stereotyping, Holahan would attribute art that featured stitching or jewelry as works created by a female, compared to pieces that display science based themes, which she’d attribute to a male artist, she said. Even with her knowledge of art history, she remains unsure as to which gender crafted each piece in the Battle of the Sexes.

“There’s not really one work of art where I myself can confidently say this was done by a man or a woman,” Holahan said.

2. A level playing field?
Historically the role of women has been limited in arts, since they lacked access to an education in art and many of them dropped their careers, once they started a family, Holahan said. In addition, women who illustrated magazines and books during the 20th Century were steered by their editors into mainly drawing domestic scenes that featured women and children, since the editors “had the stereotypical idea that this is what women were good at,” she said.

Today, there’s more opportunity for women to showcase their artwork. However, art educators typically show male pieces because there are a limited number of reproductions by women, since art materials haven’t always been available to women, M. Elcin said.

3. Does gender matter?
The exhibit is designed to get the viewer to interact and become a part of the process. The average museum spectator only takes about seven seconds to glance at a piece of art, because they want to see as much of the museum as possible, Elcin said.

Since the full name of each artist won’t be displayed on their artwork, “it’s going to make visitors stop and think a little more and really look at the work,” Elcin said.

4. Progress being made.
The more women’s work is seen in academics, commercially and in museums, “prejudice or an unwillingness to see [women’s art] as equal will diminish over time,” Holahan said.
As with any group that’s the victim or subject of stereotypical thinking, “the group itself has to take some action to overcome that,” Holahan said. “Being active is a lot more productive than being passive.”

5. What will viewers learn?
“[Artists] are concerned with not just making beautiful or interesting images, but reflecting society back to itself,” Elcin said. “Especially in contemporary art, artists are dealing with issues like the environment and consumerism.”