The Origins of the Artistic Canon

If you were to read contemporary discussions about the creation of the artistic canon, you would come away convinced that there was some sort of high-level conspiracy among a cadre of white European males plotting in dark, smoke-filled rooms to ensure that certain other white European males maintained their artistic hegemony over everyone else. The artists chosen are, of course, those whose work would ensure the continued dominance of white European males over women and racial and ethnic minorities in the arts in general, in culture overall, and around the world. A few token women and minorities are thrown in to keep them appeased, but those chosen are those who themselves identify with the oppressor and perpetuate phallologocentric capitalist structures.

If you believe this sort of thing, you might also be more than a little susceptible to believing aliens are the true builders of the Egyptian pyramids and the creators of the Nazca lines.

The first indication that you are dealing with a theory founded on utter nonsense is if it begins to sound like some sort of grand conspiracy theory. There are plenty of reasons found in everyday life, involving the decisions of everyday people, that resulted in our particular artistic canon. The dearth of women in the Western canon — or in any culture’s artistic canon, for that matter — has more to do with sex-based…