The Reader: National Gallery puts women in the frame

'Judith and her maidservant with the Head of Holofernes', c. 1608, Artemisia Gentileschi
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design
22 January 2020
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The National Gallery’s upcoming exhibition featuring the work of Artemisia Gentileschi, a 17th-century artist and pioneering feminist of her age, provides a welcome focus on female talent which is often overlooked. Women artists have been consistently airbrushed out of history. Yet they were there, despite the fact that women were actively excluded from academies before the late 1800s.

History was painted and seen through the eyes of men. That distorts our understanding and leaves half the population without a voice. Fast forward to today, and Fawcett’s 2020 Sex and Power Index shows the heads of art galleries and museums are still overwhelmingly male, so perhaps it’s not surprising that women artists have not been celebrated in equal measure.

Let’s hope the National’s Gentileschi exhibition represents a conscious shift to bring female artistic talent to public attention. I can’t wait to see it.
Sam Smethers​, Chief Executive, Fawcett Society

Editor's reply

Dear Sam

I am looking forward to the exhibition too; as well as 30 outstanding works, the National’s show includes letters that bring Gentileschi’s personality vividly to life. I take your point about women’s exclusion from academies; Gentileschi, however, learned from her father in his studio.

What’s especially interesting about her is how she featured herself in her work: in strong characters like St Catherine of Alexandria. Her viscerally violent depiction of Judith holding the head of Holofernes is thought to be her revenge after being raped; if so, she sublimated her rage into a work of intense power. And it’s interesting that she returned to the Old Testament subject of Susanna and the Elders, a story that does the male subjects no favours.

I don’t agree that there should be a gender quota of gallery directors or artists, but Gentileschi needs no special favours; she was one of the most remarkable artists of her time.
Melanie McDonagh, Art critic

Protect the green space we all enjoy

Julian Glover makes a vital point that “it’s patronising to think that only a certain kind of person” can enjoy our National Parks [“From Mile End’s tawny owl to the muddy Lake District — my radical plan to improve our countryside”, January 16]. This will be well known to many Londoners, many of whom will be among the 100 million annual visitors to these great green spaces.

Keswick, in the Lake District
PA

We must protect the National Parks. There are too many cases of developments taking place in what are meant to be our best-guarded and most cherished landscapes.

National Parks need to be revitalised and renewed but it is essential that the features that make these places so special in the first place are secured. These two objectives are not incompatible if the will is there to do it.
Corinne Pluchino​, Chief executive, Campaign for National Parks

Don’t shunt HS2 off the tracks​

I agree with your leader comment [“Give HS2 the green light”, January 20] that the Prime Minister should go ahead with the new north-south railway. The Government should avoid the urge to ditch flagship projects of a previous administration as Trump does with Obama’s in the United States.
Stan Labovitch

Snapping back at alligator park

Two alligators lounge on grass
AP

We were concerned to read about a developer’s plans to build London’s first alligator park in the Old Kent Road [“Alligator park coming to the…Old Kent Road”, January 16].

The RSPCA believes that animals should only be kept in captivity if good welfare can be assured.

Captive alligators are wild animals with specialist needs that are no different to alligators living in the wild. Animals need to be kept in a way which meets their normal biological needs, with sufficient space containing the necessary shelter, cover and stimulation to prevent distress or suffering and to promote positive welfare.

These are living, sentient beings and it is very concerning to read about them being referred to in the context of a “leisure concept”. References elsewhere to breeding in the “farm” also raised concerns about why these animals will be bred and what will happen to any offspring. Keeping any wild animal in captivity needs careful thought, consideration and justification.
Dr Ros Clubb​, RSPCA Senior Scientific Manager

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in