Art Criticism and its Power Over Women Artists - An Inquiry into the Sources of Gender Discrimination in Jewish Palestine/Israel, 1920-1960

Discrimination against women in the Western field of Visual Arts persists, even today. In this article I reflect upon the formative years of the field of Visual Arts in Jewish Palestine/Israel. I examine what role art critics took in the emergence of the systematic forms of artistic malestream domination. I also analyze which strategies allowed art critics to develop their position as the "knowers" of high art. While artistic malestream practices have not only held back female artists in the past, they also still affect women's artistic careers. Thus, the exposure of these concealed mechanisms can inform both academic scholarship and the artistic discourse.