magazine covers II

(from yesterday) the homemaker magazines and others....

it was a time of revolution in the arts. the line between 'artist' and 'illustrator' became blurred as the creators of magazine covers became collectible artists.

but additionally, i see these magazines, in that time, as kind of like oprah. they introduced the newest things to its readers, brought them the culture, the creativity, and the latest craze in a fancy package, almost like a gift.

i picture edna, one of millions of farm wives way out in the country, sitting on a stool in her kitchen alone, listening to the radio (if they can get a signal out there), and taking a break from her chores. she's just received her latest issue of modern priscilla, with its wonderful patterns, and stories, and pictures. she's connected to the world. she closes her eyes in reverie, dreaming of the blue silk she saved for and bought. she's embroidering it at night from a pattern in the magazine. how beautiful she will be for george in her very own kimono.

none of these magazine covers illustrate japonisme in style, but they have the word 'craze' written all over them. the popularizing of the orient.

(and yes, i do know that some of the images from yesterday and today illustrate chinese rather than japanese images, but i've found so many comments illustrating a total lack of awareness of any difference -- sheet music for 'chinese cherry blossom' featuring a woman clearly in the garb of a japanese courtesan -- that i think they can be included without apology.)

(the popular mechanics, which i just cannot explain, comes from here.)

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.'