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In collaboration with Women in Art Fair (WIAF), MyArtBroker hosted the panel “Working Without the Pressure of Success? Why Female Artists Still ‘Lag’ Behind in the Secondary Market”, setting the tone for an urgent conversation: How do we define “success” for women in art?
Anchored by insights from MyArtBroker’s The Female Printmakers To Watch In 2025 report, the discussion revealed that, despite gradual advances, women’s work remains “significantly undervalued in the secondary market”, both in visibility and price. This session aimed to unpack the multi-layered biases and structural barriers that perpetuate the gap.
Sheena Carrington, Market Editor at MyArtBroker, was joined on stage by three leading industry experts: Jess Bromovsky, Sales Director at MyArtBroker and specialist in American Pop and secondary private-market sales; Carolin von Massenbach, Head of Prints & Multiples at Bonhams London, offering an insider’s view of auction-house dynamics; and Jacqueline Harvey, Founder and Director of the Women in Art Fair, whose long-standing advocacy for equity and representation has reshaped opportunities for women artists.
Jess Bromovsky unpacked the infrastructure that elevated male Pop artist, such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring, to blue chip status:
“They had institutions, they had dealers, they had collectors, all working together to build their market and to make them a brand of themselves … [female artists] didn’t have that same support.”
From media stunts to dealer-driven branding, these “deliberate ecosystems” created a feedback loop of demand and confidence, a model women artists have historically been excluded from.
Jacqueline Harvey reframed the problem as systemic: “We are … a patriarchal society. Art exists as a sub-bubble within the wider society, and most structures are still patriarchal.”
She argues that “masculine-coded” metrics: fast sales, lofty price tags, celebrity names, have privileged men’s work, while women’s contributions are miscategorised as “craft” or “soft” narratives, rather than being valued on par.
Although Bridget Riley, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin enjoy strong institutional backing and command high prices for their original works, their print markets often operate on a smaller scale of value and visibility than those of their male peers. This raises a delicate question about tokenism: when only a handful of women achieve widespread recognition, are we genuinely shifting the system or merely spotlighting rare exceptions? Crucially, this isn’t just about artists themselves - it plays out across formats, too. Even with institutional support, women’s markets continue to play catch-up to their male peers across mediums such as prints and editions, underscoring the tension between celebrated visibility at the very top and the broader, sustained equity the print market still needs to achieve.
Sheena probed the “tokenism” of spotlighting a few star women, such as Kusama, Riley, Bourgeois, Emin, asking whether their success truly opens doors or merely highlights exceptions.
Jacqueline warned on the dangers of spotlighting only a select few:
“Tokenistic elevation - without deeper structural change - only reinforces exclusion. Spotlighting a handful of stars can obscure the fact that countless women remain unrepresented. “Over-relying on a handful of names cannot represent the diversity of creative expression globally. We risk reinforcing a narrow narrative instead of celebrating the full spectrum of women’s voices.”
This narrow spotlight on a select few not only limits broader recognition but also seeps into collector behaviour, a point Jess underscored when she noted how buyers scrutinise women’s work more heavily than that of their male counterparts:
“Collectors tend to ask more questions when it comes to women: ‘Is there enough demand? Has this sold well before? What’s the upside?’ With male Pop, there’s often blind confidence.”
This disparity in collector psychology helps explain why editions by Riley or Bourgeois, despite critical acclaim, still trade at more modest levels compared to their male counterparts.
In practice, Riley’s Op Art, while critically revered, suffers from cerebral framing that hinders broader mass appeal, and Kusama’s Pumpkins and polka dots, though now globally recognisable, initially required her to rebuild a market in Japan before breaking into the West, underscoring persistent regional and geographical biases that shape how women’s markets are perceived across global markets.
Jacqueline drove home the paradox of a gendered market:
“Artistic creation itself is genderless. (Key market-making players) could make any woman a star if they wanted to. But it requires a group of people following a five- to ten-year plan. Women rarely get that level of investment.”
Women In Art Fair counters this by employing open calls and a hybrid fair model that places mid-career and under-recognised women side by side with marquee names, democratising access and spotlight.
What does a healthy future market for women look like? Our panel turned to strategies for cultivating mid-career and emerging printmakers.
Jacqueline emphasised artist agency:
“If artists build direct connections with audiences, beyond commodification, they feed their practice and attract the right galleries. The gallery will come when they see that momentum.”
Jacqueline also called for holistic definitions of worth, and advocated for curriculum integration of women’s art history and public-facing programming that highlights art’s cultural and healing functions.
“Value must include emotional resonance, storytelling, beauty and craft, not just spectacle or price peaks. Education across public schools, institutions, and collectors is key.”
Involved in the collaborative discussion at the end of the panel, Charlotte Stewart, Managing Director at MyArtBroker, emphasised that it is in the secondary market where an artist’s legacy is truly cemented. “I feel very strongly that the secondary market is where legacy is made,” she noted. “Until we begin to buy and value works by female artists commercially, we won’t see a new generation of women artists become commercially focused.”
While acknowledging the many reasons artists create, Charlotte cautioned that without deliberately positioning women’s work in the commercial sphere, even the most acclaimed printmakers risk slipping from institutional and collector view. By choosing to purchase female artists’ works rather than defaulting to blue chip male names, collectors not only send a decisive market signal but also reshape the historical record. Each sale of a female print at market value becomes a building block in a more equitable narrative, one that acknowledges women’s contributions not as footnotes, but as integral chapters in art history.
Collectors wield significant influence in reshaping market dynamics for women artists. As Jess noted, data transparency empowers buyers to support undervalued printmakers. Yet insight alone isn’t enough: collectors should diversify their acquisitions beyond headline names to include mid-career talents - featured in the Female Printmakers to Watch 2025 report - and engage with exhibitions and auctions dedicated to women’s work. By combining education with intentional buying, collectors can help close the secondary-market gap.
As the secondary market evolves, the themes of foundational bias, tokenism, and education will continue to shape the discourse. By redefining success, diversifying the spotlight, and empowering emerging voices, these discussions have the ability to dismantle long-standing barriers and encourage an inclusive and resilient market for women artists.
This collaboration between MyArtBroker and the Women in Art Fair underscored the print market’s potential as a gateway to both accessibility and legacy building. From our Female Printmakers to Watch 2025 report to our pioneering data-driven valuation tools, MyArtBroker remains committed to revealing hidden value and championing equity.
The full live panel is available on YouTube here.