Feminism and Aesthetics in Contemporary American Art

What is feminist art? Can an ordinary viewer experience it in a neutral, detached, and objective way? These two questions are the focus of this essay which attempts to bridge a gap between philosophical aesthetics and feminist theorizing about women's art. The first question is purely historical, easily answered by means of a brief overview of the past twenty-five years of feminist art in America. The second question raises philosophical issues squarely within the realm of aesthetics, contingent upon who counts as "an ordinary viewer." Answering this question reveals a divergence of opinion as wide as the range of respondents. [My thanks to the American Studies Center at Warsaw University where an earlier draft of this paper was presented.]