Judy Chicago, Gloria Steinem and Elizabeth A. Sackler (left to right) at the preview of the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP
Although two women were among the founder members of one of Britain's great cultural institutions in 1768, they did not appear in Johann Zoffany's group portrait The Academicians of the Royal Academy. Because naked models appear in the composition, Angelica Kauffmann and Mary Moser are reduced to small portraits on the walls.
That literal example of women being painted out of art history is a tempting metaphor for a broader-brush historical whitewash. In a period acutely sensitive to historical redress, recognition of an artistic imbalance against women led to two significant gestures this week.
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