Despite there being hundreds of commercial galleries in China’s cities, art by women is hard to come by, yet female Chinese artists most definitely exist.

Whilst art in China was virtually non-existent until the late 80s, it has now become a powerhouse industry, which has created a pantheon of multimillionaire celebrity artists, with one thing in common – they are all men.

In a unique celebration of women artists from China, Drexel University is holding an historic exhibition of contemporary Chinese female artists, titled “Half the Sky: Women in the New Art of China”.

From Friday, September 23, 2011 until Saturday, November 12, 2011, the show will be presented at Drexel University and will be free to attend.

Half the Sky: Women in the New Art of China has been co-curated by the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University and the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC).

Featuring more than 60 works by 22 female Chinese artists, the exhibition, which is the first of its kind to be held in the United States, will display paintings, videos, sculptures, photography and installations.

The Half the Sky exhibition – its title being born from the communist ideology proclaimed by Mao Zedong that women “hold up half the sky” – is an attempt to address the situation of female artists being essentially hidden in China and to give them the attention they deserve and recognition of their talents.

An opening reception took place on September 23, 2011 and was attended by a select group of Chinese artists and dignitaries, including Fan Di’an, Director of the National Art Museum of China and Yin Xiuzhen, one of the few internationally acclaimed women Chinese artists, who represented Chine in the Venice Bienniale in 2007.

Visit drexel.edu/westpal for more information on what promises to be an eye-opening event.