Short course
A ‘Herstory’ of Art: Discovering Women Artists
Course status:
Applications being accepted
Location:
Online
Dates:
16/09/2026 - 25/11/2026
Study format:
Online - live
Fees:
£430.00
'Why have there been no great women artists?' is the title of a now-famous article written by feminist art historian Linda Nochlin in 1971. The provocative piece pointed to – and sought to examine – the structural inequities and unspoken conditions of production underlying art and its histories. It addressed generations of art historians, curators, teachers, and textbook writers (such as HW Janson, author of the canonical A History of Art), whose grand surveys of art, ancient to modern, included barely, if any, women, on the basis that they either did not exist or were not worthy of critical attention.
This course will examine art production through the lens of the lives and work of women artists across centuries (and, where possible, geographies, though the course will focus mostly on Europe and North America), including famous figures such as Artemesia Gentileschi and lesser-known pathbreakers such as Hilma af Klint (the true pioneer of abstraction?). It will also address artists such as Zanele Muholi, who challenges received conventions around the construction of sexuality, race, and gender. Together we will examine the social, economic, religious, and political conditions under which women have always made art, yet have been largely marginalised in its formal histories, institutions, and markets. We will discuss women’s strategies around artistic production, their relationships to art institutions, social and institutional change, and consider questions of (in)visibility, recognition, reception, and reevaluation. And, we’ll reflect on “how far we’ve come” on the back of a 2022 YouGov survey revelation that 70% of the British population still cannot name three women artists.
Book this course
Book your place online using the button below.
Programme details
This course begins on the 16 Sep 2026, which is when course materials are made available to students. Students should study these materials in advance of the first live meeting, which will be held on 23 Sep 2026, 16:00-17:00 (UK time).
Week 1: Why Have there Been no Great Women Artists? (1971): An Introduction to the Feminist History of Art
Week 2: Women Artists and Early Modern Europe: Plautilla Nelli, Caterina van Hemessen, Sofinisba Anguissola
Week 3: Visibility and Erasure in the Baroque: Artemesia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Rachel Ruysch
Week 4: Rococo Leaders: Rosalba Carriera, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Angelica Kauffman
Week 5: Gendering Impressionism: Berthe Morisot, Marie Bracquemond
Week 6: Modernity, Motherhood, and Mass Culture: Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Nourse
Week 7: Training the Woman Artist: The Académie Julian
Week 8: Modern Art and Abstraction: Hilma af Klint, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Delaunay
Week 9: The Body, Performance, and Institutional Critique: Ana Mendieta, Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneemann, Guerrilla Girls, Carrie Mae Weems
Week 10: Global Contemporary Practices: Kara Walker, Zanele Muholi, Lubaina Himid, Shirin Neshat
Level and demands
This course is open to all, and no prior knowledge is required.
Please note that we will address issues of sexual violence, racism, and prejudice in this course.
This course is offered at FHEQ level 4 (first year undergraduate level), and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours.
English Language Requirements
We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but we warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements, please see here.
Course aims
Through the work of both well- and lesser-known women artists, this course will address the social, economic, religious, and political conditions under which women have always made art, yet have been largely marginalised in its formal histories, institutions, and markets.
Students will become broadly familiar with important figures and movements in art history. Celebrating and analysing the creative agency of women artists and makers, we will also interrogate the social and structural conditions influencing their relative (in)visibility, recognition, reception, and re-evaluation in the field.
IT requirements
Any standard web browser can be used to access course materials on our virtual learning environment, but we recommend Google Chrome. We also recommend that students join the live webinars on Microsoft Teams using a laptop or desktop computer rather than a phone or tablet due to the limited functionality of the app on these devices.
Programme details
This course begins on the 16 Sep 2026, which is when course materials are made available to students. Students should study these materials in advance of the first live meeting, which will be held on 23 Sep 2026, 16:00-17:00 (UK time).
Week 1: Why Have there Been no Great Women Artists? (1971): An Introduction to the Feminist History of Art
Week 2: Women Artists and Early Modern Europe: Plautilla Nelli, Caterina van Hemessen, Sofinisba Anguissola
Week 3: Visibility and Erasure in the Baroque: Artemesia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Rachel Ruysch
Week 4: Rococo Leaders: Rosalba Carriera, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Angelica Kauffman
Week 5: Gendering Impressionism: Berthe Morisot, Marie Bracquemond
Week 6: Modernity, Motherhood, and Mass Culture: Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Nourse
Week 7: Training the Woman Artist: The Académie Julian
Week 8: Modern Art and Abstraction: Hilma af Klint, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Delaunay
Week 9: The Body, Performance, and Institutional Critique: Ana Mendieta, Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneemann, Guerrilla Girls, Carrie Mae Weems
Week 10: Global Contemporary Practices: Kara Walker, Zanele Muholi, Lubaina Himid, Shirin Neshat
Teaching methods
This course takes place over 10 weeks, with a weekly learning schedule and weekly live webinar held on Microsoft Teams. Shortly before a course commences, students are provided with access to an online virtual learning environment, which houses the course content, including video lectures, complemented by readings or other study materials. Working through these materials over the course of the week will prepare students for a weekly 1-hour live webinar you will share with your expert tutor and fellow students. All courses are structured to amount to 100 study hours, so that on average, you should set aside 10 hours a week for study. Although the course finishes after 10 weeks, all learning materials remain available to all students for 12 months after the course has finished.
All courses are led by an expert tutor. Tutors guide students through the course materials as part of the live interactions during the weekly webinars. Tutors will also provide individualised feedback on your assignments. All online courses are taught in small student cohorts so that you and your peers will form a mutually supportive and vibrant learning community for the duration of the course. You will learn from your fellow students as well as from your tutor, and they will learn from you.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- understand some of the cultural, political, social and historical contexts of – and constraints on – women’s artistic production and agency
- analyse and describe the work of a range of women artists
- develop and communicate ideas about works of art through discussion and written analysis
- reflect critically on how the discipline of art history has been constructed, and how it continues to change
Assessment methods
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first 500 words are due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Dr Allison Deutsch
Allison Deutsch is a specialist in nineteenth-century French painting and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She joined Oxford Lifelong Learning in 2023, and has directed the undergraduate Certificate and Diploma programmes in the History of Art. Dr Deutsch has also taught and held Fellowships at Birkbeck, University of London, and University College London [UCL]. Her work has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL. In 2021 her first book, Consuming Painting: Food and the Feminine in Impressionist Paris, was published by Penn State University Press, and she has authored chapters in volumes published by Routledge and Yale University Press. Deutsch’s articles have appeared in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Dix-Neuf, and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, among others. If you are interested in France, food, or feminism, Dr Deutsch looks forward to learning with you!
Assessment methods
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first 500 words are due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Level and demands
This course is open to all, and no prior knowledge is required.
Please note that we will address issues of sexual violence, racism, and prejudice in this course.
This course is offered at FHEQ level 4 (first year undergraduate level), and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours.
English Language Requirements
We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but we warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements, please see here.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £430.00 |
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.