The Fate of Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers of Art

Abstract

Abstract The chapter sums up how women made crucial contributions to nineteenth-century British philosophy of art and explains how our standard narratives about this period could be enriched by taking women into account. The chapter then looks at how the seven women discussed in the book tended to equate aesthetics with philosophy of the arts, and to conflate aesthetic and artistic value. They therefore said little about the aesthetics of nature or the sublime. Furthermore, they largely accepted the hierarchy of the arts and the established canon. Finally, the chapter traces how these women went from fame in their own times to invisibility in the twentieth century, looking at such factors as citation practices, academic professionalization, and the rise of modernism.