As women in the art world rise up against abuse from collectors and others, will the culture that’s protected predators shift?

When the American artist Betty Tompkins was a senior at Syracuse University in 1966, one of her painting professors asked her what she was going to do after she finished school.

“I’m going to move to New York and be an artist,” Tompkins, now 72, told him.

His reply: “The only way you will make it in New York is on your back.”

“I did graduate school and moved to New York,” said Tompkins, who forgot all about this sexist comment, but it resurfaced in her mind with today’s current climate of sexual harassment allegations in the arts.



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“I hope the men who have habitually abused their position of power are nervous,” she said. “I hope they are rethinking how they function in the art world – it is entirely possible they are not.”

Sexual harassment in the art world is nothing new, but since October, a number of cases have brought new visibility to the problem. Most recently, the art collector Steve Wynn – known for spending millions on art, like a $28m Jeff Koons sculpture – resigned as CEO of his casino company after sexual harassment claims surfaced on 7 February. But it’s not only Wynn.

Just as Harvey Weinstein wielded his power as a producer to take advantage of aspiring female actors, it seems those in the seat of power in the art world are no different. The Canadian art collector François Odermatt has been accused of rape by one woman and sexual harassment by 11 others. The rape allegation, which Odermatt denied, was investigated by police and no charges laid. The British gallerist and art collector Anthony d’Offay has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour from three women and stepped down as curator of Artists Rooms in December. The Los Angeles art dealer Aaron Bondaroff, who co-owns the Moran Bondaroff Gallery, recently resigned after three women accused him of sexual misconduct.

It isn’t just the collectors and curators, it’s also artists like Chuck Close, who is facing allegations from several women who say he made sexual advances and inappropriate comments during their business meetings, and amid these sexual misconduct allegations, the National Gallery of Art in Washington cancelled his forthcoming exhibition. The renowned fashion photographers Mario Testino and Bruce Weber are accused of sexually abusing male models in cases brought forward in January, which has led to major publications dropping them. A new code of conduct for models and photographers has been released by Condé Nast.

A public letter was published in the Guardian on 30 October by the campaign group We Are Not Surprised under the headline “We’ll stay silent no more over sexual harassment in the art world.” The letter read: “We are not surprised when curators offer exhibitions or support in exchange for sexual favours. We are not surprised when gallerists romanticise, minimise and hide sexually abusive behaviour by artists they represent. We are not surprised when a meeting with a collector or a potential patron becomes a sexual proposition. We are not surprised when we are retaliated against for not complying. Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”

We’re tired of the sweet talk and empty politics Open letter from We Are Not Surprised

The group, which is founded anonymously, has had artists like Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman sign the letter, among thousands of others. The group wrote a second letter on 8 February, against the publisher of Artforum magazine, Knight Landesman, who is accused of sexual misconduct by several women including Amanda Schmitt, who was photographed by Time magazine as one of “the Silence Breakers”. The group are calling upon artists and art industry workers to boycott the magazine until it removes Landesman as a co-owner and retract the motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Schmitt.

It reads: “We support the recent editorial work of Artforum’s writers and editorial staff; unfortunately, such content appears as little more than a façade of feminist, anti-abuse and anti-racist rhetoric and posturing so long as Artforum’s publishers and lawyers fight to erase Amanda Schmitt and many, many others’ experiences of misogyny, harassment, and abuse of power. We’re tired of the sweet talk and empty politics.”

But moving beyond the public letters, what actually needs to change to move things forward? Alexandra Schwartz, a curator who teaches at Columbia University, was one to sign the initial letter which published in the Guardian.

“The letter is power to the professionalization of women in the arts,” she said. “Every segment in society has been affected by it and there needs to be more of a procedure and protocol in place. There could be some guidelines from the Association of Art Museum Directors to the American Alliance of Museums.”

That procedure could help protect workers in the creative arts in ways they haven’t been before. “When I was in my 20s, in the art world, it was assumed you would run into harassment,” said Schwartz. “The fact that it can change and this assumption you don’t have to deal with unwanted attention, I think that’s incredibly important.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Judith Bernstein’s work on display in 2017. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

To feminist artist Judith Bernstein, who has been working in the art world since the 1960s, she says the letter published in the Guardian was a necessary step. “I stand in solidarity with all of the individuals, and in all of the issues brought up in this encompassing letter,” said Bernstein. “I’ve experienced discrimination over the past 50 years of my practice, especially with my sexually and politically charged work. We’ve seen how things have retrogressed from Obama to Trump and this tsunami will have legs only if it continues full speed ahead.”

This solidarity born out of the letter could further help women in the art world. “I’m certain if we continue to support each other, all of us in the arts industry can walk through the thorny path of growing together,” said Natasha Le Tanneur, the founder of an art firm called ArtPaie, “and redefine previously accepted behaviors that can no longer be tolerated.”

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Coralina Rodriguez Meyer, a New York artist, stresses that new procedures need to come into place. “One way to move away from supremacy and make the art world a better place is becoming more comfortable with complexity and multiplicity,” said Rodriguez Meyer.

“Intersectional, non-binary thinking and political participation will help viewers, curators, critics, collectors, institutions and the public reflect on their own position within society as more empathic and democratic.”

The structure of leadership in art institutions needs to change, too. “The directors of institutions can hire more diverse and non-traditional staff and assistant curators of major institutions can do more studio visits with artists working outside the Ivy League system and outside the visual standards or popularity contests that benefit their social media feeds,” said Rodriguez Meyer.

As for Tompkins, who now boasts an international art career, she hopes the exposure that the We Are Not Surprised and the #MeToo movements will put an end to all the sexual harassment in the art world – and beyond.

“One of the most positive things to come out of the #MeToo movement is that it gives a framework and a vocabulary to egregious actions that I feel was missing before,” she said. “Many women are now tuned in. That alone is a very positive step.”