magazine covers I

the impression one might get from discussions of japonisme (like this one) is that it was a phenomenon of artists and the upper class. but that would be wrong.

candace wheeler (whose work can be seen here and here) followed in the same mold as did the instigators of the saturday evening girls and the like in using her own creativity to teach younger women ways of earning a living.

the milieu to which she belonged—a world in which pattern, texture, glint, nature, color, exoticism, and yards of cloth in one's surroundings.... 1

Wheeler was one of the first designers to use American flowers (versus their European counterparts) as her inspiration. She studied Japanese stenciled kimono fabrics for ideas. The patterns she created are delicate and whimsical. Her textiles are masterpieces of the American Decorative Arts. 2

it should come as no surprise, then, that the japonisme of her taste should be communicated to her students, as is evidenced by the covers of some of the "humblest" of magazines, those devoted to needlework and the arts of the home. as these women began to join the creative forces of this country they redefined, expanded, the meaning of the word 'artist.'