Quantifying institutional gender inequality in contemporary visual art.

Area of Science:

• Art History
• Sociology of Art
• Gender Studies

Background:

• Evidence suggests women are under-represented in visual arts regarding exhibitions and auction opportunities.
• Gender disparities persist in the contemporary art market.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze gender differences in the exhibition history and auction sales of contemporary artists.
• To quantify institutional factors contributing to gender imbalance in the art world.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of exhibition data for 65,768 contemporary artists across 20,389 institutions.
• Distinction between gender-neutral and gender-balanced institutional representation.
• Logistic regression to assess factors influencing auction market access.

Main Results:

• 58% of institutions are gender-neutral, but only 24% are gender-balanced.
• Man-overrepresented institutions are more common in prestigious settings.
• An artist's co-exhibition gender, reflecting institutional inequality, is a stronger predictor of auction success than the artist's own gender.

Conclusions:

• Institutional dynamics significantly contribute to gender inequality in the art market.
• Addressing institutional representation is crucial for achieving gender equity in the arts.
• Co-exhibition gender is a key metric for understanding systemic gender bias in art institutions.