In the course of the decade 1932 + many other women artists had the chance to gain prominence
by creating art in public places under various New Deal art-funding programs. The egalitarianism of the government–at one point half the participating artists were female–gave young female artists like Alice Neel and Lee Krasner the opportunity to establish themselves as artists.
Biography of Georgia O’Keeffe by Laurie Lisle p.253
I was surprised that there was affirmative action back in those days too. It kind of surprised me as I thought it came about much later. So looking it up in wikipedia I found this:
The term “affirmative action” was first used in the United States in “Executive Order No. 10925“, signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that government contractors “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”. It was used to promote actions that achieve non-discrimination.
The stated justification for affirmative action by its proponents is that it helps to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to address existing discrimination.
Lee Krasner was one of the women who received this special treatment. Lee (1908 – 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong speciality in collage, who was married to Jackson Pollock.
Apparently, it has always been and always will be “who you know”.
Leave a Reply, you know you want to! ツ