Survey of men vs women artists in Caithness – who earns the most from their work?
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A local artist was inspired to look at the differences in the sales figures between male and female artists in Caithness thanks to a BBC Radio 4 documentary.
Valerie Barker, a committee member from the Society of Caithness Artists (SCA), was spurred on to do the research after hearing about a BBC Radio 4 documentary called "Recalculating Art" which included a statement by journalist Mary Ann Sieghart [quoted in The Guardian] that “for every £1 fetched by a male artist’s work, one by a woman gets a mere 10p”.
"This intrigued me – a ratio of 10 to 1 in art sale income in favour of men," said Valerie. "The statistic seems to hold true both for works of art that sell for millions and for more modestly priced pieces. I wondered if this is reflected in the Caithness art scene."
Valerie used a SCA catalogue from this year's show in Thurso and carried out a survey based on the "red dot" sales of artworks. She concentrated on the 324 works exhibited by 101 artists at the show with prices set by each artist.
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Valerie's background in teaching led her to some initial facts with the first being that "7 out of 10 students gaining an art college place are female". She added: "Historically women were directed to craft activities rather than to a career in fine art which was deemed a man’s world."
The initial statistics showed there were 71 female artists exhibiting at the SCA show this year compared to just 30 men – a ratio of 2.3 women to each man and 2.4 works created by women compared to one by a man.
"I was getting closer to the statistic that prompted my interest in the first place. Is the monetary value of a piece of work attributed to a male artist considerably more than the price a female artist can command?
Are international sales figures, with a male to female ratio of 10 to 1, replicated in Caithness?"
Females may have dominated in numbers at the annual Thurso art exhibition but how did that reflect in the prices each gender charged for their art? Valerie's analysis showed an average price per item based on all work sold was £127.95. The average price per item for men’s work sold was £153.06. The average price per item for women’s work sold was £119.80.
"Each piece of men’s work this year sold on average for £33.26 more than each woman’s, so this does appear to suggest that in Caithness, as in the rest of the world, a male artist can achieve greater monetary reward than a woman, even though not at the extreme of the international gallery analysis of 10 times more."
Valerie says there are many more questions to be asked with regard to the statistics but wondered if she would be better disguising her gender, when signing her own artworks, by just using initials. "Or perhaps I should not sign my work at all, because The Guardian adds a further qualification to its quote: 'For every £1 fetched by a male artist’s work, one by a woman gets a mere 10p – and its value plummets further if she signs it'."
Ian Pearson, SCA chair, said: "The survey was approved by the Society. Art knows no boundaries and we welcome as an art society each and everyone of the human race.
"The Society of Caithness Artists Annual Exhibition has always been an open show with no jury judging art and unlike a lot of art societies we accept 3D work on equal terms as 2D work. We do not place any limits on age, gender or skills. Professional or amateur are welcome."
