The Art World is a Boys’ Club

Botticelli's Venus. Warhol's Marilyn. Chen Yifei’s Beauties. Historically, the creation of art has been largely the preserve of men. And not a lot has changed. In recent years, the top 100 highest grossing living artists at auction were men, selling predominantly to male buyers. Women run just a quarter of the biggest art museums in the world, earning about a third less than their male counterparts. More women then men graduate from art school, but fast forward a few years and it's the men who are making it big, in the market, the galleries and the museums. So what's going on? The art world is a boys' club, that's what. This is the gripe of those who think the system is stitched up against women, but whose fault is it really? Perhaps women don’t ‘lean in’ enough, or get sidetracked by motherhood. And while gender imbalance remains a fact, things have improved quite dramatically for women in the art world, especially when compared to the business world and its glass ceilings. From Middle Eastern sheikhas to American museum directors, from Korean gallerists to Japanese conceptual artists, the trajectory is up, not down, which is what really matters. So is the art world a bastion of male privilege and prejudice, or an evolving arena where women are continually breaking the mould? We were joined by a panel of experts in Hong Kong on 15th March 2015 to debate the motion "The Art World is a Boys' Club". Arguing for the motion were Head of Collections, International Art at Tate Modern Frances Morris and Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London Gregor Muir. Arguing against the motion were Publisher of Artforum International Magazine Charles Guarino and Director of Education, Christie's Education, Asia Elaine Kwok. The debate was chaired by Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum.