Module 6: The "New Woman"

The "New Woman"


Women In the Early 1900's in the Suffrage movement.
I was intrigued when I saw the picture on page 199 of the book "Graphic Design History, A Critical Guide" about the Suffragist Poster. Below are some other images that show the resistance to Women Suffrage Movement.

This one is entitled "Suffragettes that have never been kissed "as if the movement was only by women who have never been in love or married. Their faces sour with unhappiness and disappointment is typical of the stereotypes of the period.

1909  By Walter Wellman "Should Women Mix in Politix? Nix!The press ridiculed the movement. Here one that says that women will be fighting each other over politics. Didn't the men fight already and still do?

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/20/shoulder-to-shoulder-uk-suffrage-postcards/

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/20/shoulder-to-shoulder-uk-suffrage-postcards/

Too Funny!

Below is the movements graphics sh owing the women as heroic figures & a guiding light.

Postcards were a great way to advertise. Quick, small, and many can be given out to get the message accross quickly. http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/03/31/suffragist-postcards/

Below is a few advertisements towards woman in the early 1900's. Note soft, womanly forms. The one from 1928 is geared to a class of women, middle class who have time for things like tea.  After that are several advertisements showing the independent new woman who marketers wanted to entice to purchase more of their products.

1904 ad for dress fabric                  Vintage ad for women's hats from Mongomery Ward, 1908





Crawford's 4 o'Clock Afternoon Tea Biscuits' 1928 Biscuit tin label

All descriptions from website.

'Aide toi. Le ciel t'aidera' ('Heaven helps those who help themselves')
About 1925-30
Print
Museum no. E.901-1975
Given by Mr and Mrs Urry

Tito's illustration shows a modern emancipated girl of the period: she wears short skirts, drives her own open-topped car, and is even capable of fixing it herself when it breaks down. She is presented as independent and rather 'racy'; the image is clearly meant to be amusing but also suggestive.

Ernst Dryden (1887-1938)
Proof for an advertisement for sportswear designed by Jane Regny
1928
Colour half tone line block
Published in Vogue, French edition, June 1928
Museum no. E.3652-1983

The exaggerated angular drawing in this illustration emphasises the narrow boyish flat-chested figure that was considered most fashionable and desirable for women in this period. Both women also have fashionably short 'bobbed' hairstyles and wear close-fitting cloche hats.

The bold 'jazz' print worn by the woman on the left is typical of the 1920s and is evidence of the influence on fashion of Art Deco styles. The orange, brown and yellow colours were especially popular at this time, and can be found in wallpapers and furnishing fabrics of the 1920s too.

Werner Jackson
Young Woman Smoking
1930s
Photograph
Museum no. PH.155-1985
Given by Mrs Greta Jackson, wife of the photographer

At the beginning of the 20th century most people disapproved of women smoking, and it was seen as a very masculine habit and a sign of loose morals. But attitudes changed significantly over the next twenty years.

Women were targeted by tobacco manufacturers in the 1920s and 1930s with advertisements that suggested that smoking was glamorous. Film stars such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis were used to promote the idea that smoking was associated with style and sex appeal.

By the 1930s smoking was a widespread habit amongst men and women. The dangers of smoking were then barely recognised. In fact cigarettes were often advertised as being beneficial to health in some ways - for example smoking was thought to calm the nerves, and was also promoted as a means of staying slim.

Eric Fraser (1902-83)
Weldon's Women's Journals Advertisement
Probably 1926
Museum no. E.538-1987

Eric Fraser was a painter, and a prolific designer and illustrator. Much of his work was for magazines, but he also worked for industrial clients such as British Gas. Weldon's published a range of illustrated magazines for women, including journals devoted to children's fashions, and titles aimed at the home dressmaker.

These publications were designed for middle-class women managing on a limited budget, but the clothes and hairstyles depicted were drawn from the world of the rich and famous, such as film stars.

Here two elegant women are shown dining against the backdrop of an exotic location - the sun and palm trees suggest perhaps the French Riviera, then a glamorous holiday destination favoured by the wealthy and by celebrities from the worlds of film and fashion.

 

Henry Haley, Head and Shoulders of Woman Driving Car, about 1928. Museum no. E.343-1985

Henry Haley (born 1874)
Head and Shoulders of Woman Driving Car, for cover of Pearsons Magazine
About 1928
Museum no. E.343-1985

Pearson's was a popular magazine of the period. It was clearly intended to appeal to a largely female readership, and here the image of a woman driver is used to represent a modern outlook and an independent lifestyle.

                                                                                                    

             















http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/advertising_from_the_1900s/