Deconstructing the lone genius through the lens of gender: Artistic creativity revisited

Creativity has been a long-standing and important topic in art and art education. A creative person is often regarded as a lone genius, which was an ideal image rooted in the Renaissance, and became well-known during the European Romantic Movement. This image; however, is generally pictured as a male, as the art world favours male artists and thus conceptualizes a gendered type of artistic creativity. The narrow definition of artistic creativity has been challenged, since it pays no notice of the role of gender in society, and neglects the gender power dynamics in the art world. In addition, the biased viewpoint would hinder gender equality in art education. Thus, by taking a gender perspective, this article is aimed critically to examine the ideal image of a lone genius and it revisits the concept of artistic creativity. It reveals the biased concept of artistic creativity and the accompanying educational imbalance. It hopes that when a gender-holistic view of artistic creativity is taken, gender equality in art education can be improved.
創意是藝術及藝術教育當中持久不衰的重要主題。自文藝復興時期開始，富有創意的人往往獲推崇為特立獨行的天才，這種理想形象到了歐洲浪漫主義風潮期間更加深入人心。但是，在重男輕女的藝術界，孤獨天才通常以男性形象呈現，藝術創造力也因此帶有特定性別意涵。這種對於藝術創造力的狹隘定義如今普遍受到質疑，因其無視性別所扮演的社會角色，也忽略了藝術世界裡的性別權力關係。除此之外，這套偏狹的觀點也會阻礙藝術教育的性別平等發展。因此，本文試圖透過性別觀點，批判所謂孤獨天才這個理想形象，並重新審視藝術創造力的意含。本文將揭露藝術創造力的偏頗定義，以及隨之衍生的教育失衡現象。筆者希望透過整全性別觀點(gender-holistic)的角度思考藝術創造力，以提升藝術教育的性別平等。 Copyright © 2019 NTAEC.