Women can't be painters.

When men sign their artworks, their value increases, but when women sign them, their value decreases. In this groundbreaking work on gender and value, Helen Gørrill argues that such inequality is extremely common in the art world. Using a new, statistical method, Gørrill has created a database showing that there is little aesthetic difference between men's and women's paintings, but that men's works are valued 80 percent more than women's. The author proves that museums are complicit in this vicious circle by purchasing works from female artists in a tokenistic manner, thereby reducing their market value. This provocative book is essential for students, educators, researchers, and artists themselves, challenging the methods that have heretofore determined the roles of women in the art world. It is also a valuable resource that provides striking evidence that being a woman affects every stage of artistic exchange, whether social, symbolic, cultural, or economic.

Written with infectious enthusiasm, Kadından Ressam Olmaz (There's No Such Thing as a Female Painter) is a slap in the face to all academics, artists, curators, collectors, and institutions who try to hide their chauvinism behind the guise of "quality." Full of undeniable facts and figures, the book insists that readers examine the ways in which values in the art world are constructed to exclude women, artists of different races, and works that transcend the boundaries of a very narrow, Eurocentric canon. Gørrill's controversial work may anger some, but it is much more likely to empower many more people to bring about long-term change.
Marsha Meskimmon, Loughborough University, UK