Quantifying Institutional Gender Inequality in Contemporary Visual Art

TL;DR

This study analyzes gender disparities in contemporary visual art by examining exhibition and auction data for over 65,000 artists, revealing institutional biases and the impact of co-exhibition gender on market success.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive quantitative analysis of gender inequality in art institutions and markets, highlighting the influence of institutional gender balance on artist success.

Findings

58% of institutions are gender-neutral, but only 24% are gender-balanced.

The fraction of man-overrepresented institutions increases with prestige.

Co-exhibition gender predicts auction success more strongly than artist gender.

Abstract

From disparities in the number of exhibiting artists to auction opportunities, there is evidence of women's under-representation in visual art. Here we explore the exhibition history and auction sales of 65,768 contemporary artists in 20,389 institutions, revealing gender differences in the artist population, exhibitions and auctions. We distinguish between two criteria for gender equity: gender-neutrality, when artists have gender-independent access to exhibition opportunities, and gender-balanced, that strives for gender parity in representation, finding that 58\% of institutions are gender-neutral but only 24\% are gender-balanced, and that the fraction of man-overrepresented institutions increases with institutional prestige. We define artist's co-exhibition gender to capture the gender inequality of the institutions that an artist exhibits. Finally, we use logistic regression to predict an artist's access to the auction market, finding that co-exhibition gender has a stronger correlation with success than the artist's gender. These results help unveil and quantify the institutional forces that relate to the persistent gender imbalance in the art world.