The Guardian view on an explosion of solo exhibitions by women: move over old masters | Editorial

From a landmark Tracey Emin show at Tate Modern to the first female painter in the Royal Academy’s main space, the art world is finally catching up “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?” the feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls asked in their famous 1989 poster . It pointed out that fewer than 5% of the artists in the modern art sections were women, but 85% of the nudes were female. They could have asked the same question of any major art gallery in the world. Four decades later, this year’s biggest UK exhibitions finally show a different picture. Dame Tracey Emin might be naked in many of her self-portraits, but that isn’t what got her into Tate Modern for a landmark retrospective . Rose Wylie , 91, is the first female painter to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy . The Colombian artist Beatriz González (who died, aged 93, in January) is at the Barbican . And that is just this week’s openings. Continue reading...