Letter: A pram in the hall is no longer the enemy of the female artist

I am reluctant to admit it but money does talk when it’s a question of raising the profile of women artists. When former hedge fund manager Christian Levett is prepared to divest his collection of antiquities in order to promote female artists with his own private museum, opening it to the general public, the world must take note (“Women take centre stage”, Collecting, Life & Arts, FT Weekend, June 22).

Levett says he wants his museum to be “a contribution to correcting the imbalance” in visibility between female and male artists. I have been an artist and advocate for women artists for much of my life and appreciate the work that is now being done by institutions, writers, private collectors and patrons to fill the gaps in art history as regards women artists past and present. But how does Levett’s enlightened patronage filter through to affect women artists in general?

Two current “women-centred” exhibitions in London reveal the obstacles and prejudices that women artists have had to face in the past. The Christian Levett Collection is one of the supporters of the exhibition at Tate Britain entitled “Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920”, which Jackie Wullschläger reviewed in May (Life & Arts, May 18).

The other is the exhibition “Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors” at the Garden Museum, which was reviewed by Jane Owen in House & Home (June 8).

As Owen writes “even among these bohemians, women were supposed to be seen, decoratively, without being heard or acknowledged however remarkable their achievements”.

Their contemporary Cyril Connolly, the literary critic and writer, remarked: “There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall”.

Such prejudice has limited women artists in the past, but now seems outdated as many explore pregnancy and motherhood as part of their own individual art practice, while public attitudes as to what constitutes “art” also broaden.

How fascinating if the example of a hedge fund manager turned arts patron could now provide the spur for today’s women artists as they emulate Levett’s dedication in forging their individual creative paths.

Rea Stavropoulos
London NW5, UK