Lecture Review: Illustrating change and the history of women’s artistic influence

Written by Edith Manfred, Graphic by Ana Vergara

On Friday, May 3, The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum hosted a lecture about the groundbreaking societal reform of the Progressive Era and its impact on female artists as a part of their lecture series this year. This lecture was hosted by guest speaker and SCAD Illustration Professor Julie Lieberman who spoke on the pioneering women who shaped American art and illustration for generations to come. Her research and presentation highlighted not only the impact of female artists and their evolving craft but also how their art affected the course of our country’s history, specifically with the Suffrage Movement and the fight for women’s right to vote. 

The late 19th and early 20th centuries in America were rife with reform movements, each seeking to change different aspects of American life. These fought for everything from cleaning up cities and the growing slums to making businesses and governments more responsible. After the Civil War, women started fighting for broader equality and economic reform, beginning in large part with women like Susan B. Anthony’s initiation of the Suffrage Movement. At the time, sixty percent of all working women were domestic servants and the art of the time reflected this, primarily portraying women allegorically in the domestic sphere. Society painters started painting scenes inside the home, which was seen as the “woman’s sphere” of domesticity and feminine control. Women were seen as embodying the spirituality that was lacking in society. This domestically themed art emphasized the growing class divides by portraying upper-class women as the pinnacle example of womanhood in advertisements and publications. Print culture, as ever, reflected America itself. 

In this way, art was used as a tool to enforce societal standards onto women of all classes, beginning at the top. Women were often taught art skills at finishing schools but consequently not allowed to use those skills to create personal artwork after the academic setting. One character who was pivotal in teaching women art practices and then giving them the independence to use their own artistic voices for insight into societal change was Howard Pyle (1853-1911). Pyle, popularly known as the “Father of American Illustration”, opened the Brandywine School (both a physical art school and a general art style of the time) in 1900 as an illustration school with a strong female presence. Pyle sought to bring American illustration up to the level of European illustration at the time as he felt a growing gap between the two artistic worlds. Students of Pyle became successful illustrators as he cultivated both their skills and encouraged his female students to use their art as political statements in publications. This is seen in success stories such as The Plastic Club and Red Rose Girls, both groups of Pyle’s students who published their work. These publications like the “Ladies’ Home Journal” and “The Suffragist” magazines were used as subtle political messages about the domestic placement of women. “The Lily,” the first US newspaper edited for and by women, started by popularizing the fashion style of bloomers and later moved to suffrage causes. Even postcards became protests, with the addition of art on postage stamps women found new ways to get their art and activism seen by the world.

This break from tradition was popularized by the shocking rebelliousness of the Impressionist Movement which showed a new way to think about art. Artists like Mary Cassatt broke from the academic art rules and began painting the women’s sphere with subtle but noticeably rebellious details. The “Gibson Girl” became the example of a smart, audacious and stunning woman who both exemplified the beauty of life as a woman and perhaps subtly used her femininity as power. 

Escapism and Romanticism were the consistently popular art movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tending to idealize the Middle Ages and provide an escape from the societal reality of class divides. One primary factor in the political shift of art from the imaginary and idealized home to the gruesome and divided outside world was the First World War and its effects on the domestic sphere. Out of societal necessity, women’s responsibilities shifted from domestic to industrial as their service was needed to keep the country running while American men were off serving in Europe during the First World War. With this change in jobs came a change in fashion and art styles, as women were depicted as more strong and confident. Artists like Flora Lion, an English painter involved in the Suffrage Movement, started depicting working-class women at work. Female artists’ work for war efforts like government military posters and postage stamps enforced the depiction of women as strong members of society handling domestic and industrial affairs. 

Women’s perspectives during war times were popularized also by the need for illustrative journalism. Before photography, illustrators worked as journalists who recorded scenes of war and life. The point of view of the journalist has always been an extremely influential one, as it communicates current events through the lens of an observer, so expressing those through art leaves space for the artist’s personal voice and point of view. The growing popularity of female illustrators, such as those taught at the Brandywine School, put more female perspectives in war coverage. 

These war efforts had the butterfly effect of advancing the Women’s Suffrage Movement by proving that women were worthy of the American vote because they served during the war. Previously, one of the arguments made against suffrage was that the vote should only be for people willing to sacrifice their lives for their country, and as women would not be allowed to officially enlist in the military until 1948, that couldn’t apply to them quite yet. Women’s service at home in the US during World War I proved to the male-dominated society that they were willing to sacrifice for their country and indeed, they just had. 

Another factor that helped the Suffrage Movement in the US was similar nudges from abroad. Led by Australia, women got the right to vote in twenty other countries before the US. President Woodrow Wilson (in office from 1913 to 1921) saw this inequality as a breach of liberal democracy and used women’s wartime service as reasoning to push for Suffrage. The combination of women’s war efforts and President Wilson’s realization of how behind the US was in global voting equality culminated in the passing of the 19th Amendment on August 18th, 1920. While this was a huge win for the Suffrage Movement, it was a problematically late solution to a problem that had been building for decades. And while President Wilson gets a lot of the credit for this success, his wife Edith Wilson may deserve more credit than she gets for her influence in this push for suffrage. Edith played a large role in handling matters of state after Wilson’s stroke in 1919 and is widely known as the “first female president” due to her defining role in his presidency. We can thank the often invisible female visionaries for their influence on American political progression.

The lecture’s message emphasized the history of women’s artistic influence during the Progressive Era, highlighting everything from illustration to political representation. The work of women such as Blanche Ames and Anna Airy set the stage for women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg to later influence American politics forever. The female artists of the Suffrage Movement and Progressive Era fought for so many of the rights we take for granted now, which should serve only as motivation for us to vote this coming fall, recognizing the power we hold as American citizens. Let us take inspiration from the female artists who forged the path before us and use their efforts to further our own artistic and political pursuits.