Statistics on the occupation of economic and social spaces by the Brazilian population generally show a wide discrepancy between the positions reached by men and by women. Women, however, are the ones who run the visual arts market, as shown by a recent article in Folha de S. Paulo.
Bárbara Blum's report states that “in business, it is women who call the shots. With women in the names, in the founding, in the management and on the boards, the commercial art scene of São Paulo bubbles with female bosses at the head of the main galleries and fairs and in the articulation of its ecosystem, which includes the buying and selling of artworks and the social life of the art world, with its cocktail parties, dinners and private views”.
Women's participation in this market is the result of knowledge, persistence and an accurate reading of the landscape. That is how Luisa Strina and Raquel Arnaud became pioneers in several respects – including the decision to represent a select list of artists and to build an aesthetic coherence in what they exhibit and sell. Both galleries – which bear the names of their founders – are completing 50 years of activity.
Also covered are the careers of the gallerists and business partners Márcia Fortes and Alessandra D’Aloia; of the Pernambuco-born Nara Roesler and her commercial success; of the Minas Gerais-born Jaqueline Martins, owner of a space in Vila Buarque focused on conceptual art; of Maria Montero, who runs an independent space; of Igi Ayedun, the first Black woman to own an art gallery in Brazil.
And it is not only galleries that have women at the helm: the article also highlights the leadership of women at the biggest art fairs in Brazil, as in the case of SP-Arte, run by Fernanda Feitosa. The full text is well worth reading.
