On Wednesday 8^th February, the LEH Art historians travelled to Westminster School to attend Katy Hessel’s remarkable talk about her book ‘The Story of Art Without Men’. The book reveals the history of disregarded and overlooked female artists, starting in the 16^th century and finishing in the present day. It’s title is a play on Ernst Gombrich’s ‘The Story of Art’ (1950) which failed to include any female artists. Hessel’s book acts as a guide to rebalance the gender knowledge gap in art history. She removes women from their perceived roles as the daughter, the wife, the muse and the model and recognises their individual artistic achievements.

Hessel grew up in London and studied History of Art at University College London. Upon graduating in 2015, she attended an art fair where she noticed that there was not a single female artist’s work on display. This sparked her to create the Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists which posts an art piece by a woman on a daily basis. It highlights unseen women artists across many different mediums. In 2019, she founded a podcast of the same name which interviews artists, curators and writers about female artists. Hessel has also written and presented art documents for the BBC; curated exhibitions at the Victoria Micro Gallery and Kasmin Gallery;  presented lectures at The National Gallery, The Tate and Cambridge University; and written articles for British Vogue, The Guardian and Sotheby’s Magazine.

The talk was tremendously inspiring to see the advancements in recovering the unseen history of women artists. Not only did the talk acknowledge female artists, it also highlighted many women of colour, queer artists and women from many different socio-economic backgrounds. It was incredible to hear Hessel’s vast knowledge of art history and to see how much she has achieved at such a young age. After the talk, we were able to have our own copies of ‘The Story of Art Without Men’ signed by Hessel. It was wonderful that we were able to speak with her one on one. The talk has inspired us all to uncover more about women artists and to help solidify their place in the story of art.

By Lucy (L6)