Fashioning a National Identity
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met.
It explores developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today.
Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition reveals how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman.
Nancy Chilton for her precious help.
Paul Stahr (American, 1883-1953)Illustration, “Soldierettes,”
(Cover of Life Magazine), 1919 Oil n canvas. Collection of the Society of Illustrators Museum of American J. C. Leyendecker (American, 1874–1951)
Vacation, (Cover for Collier’s magazine), 1907 Oil on canvas
Courtesy Archives of American Illustrators Gallery™ NYC
© 2010 by American Illustrators Gallery™ NYC
Giovanni Boldini (Italian, Ferrarese, 1845–1931) Oil on canvas
Consuelo Vanderbilt (1876–1964), Duchess of Marlborough, and Her Son, Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill (1898–1956), 1906
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bohemian Gallery, Flapper Gallery, Screen Siren Gallery
Baron Adolph de Meyer (American, born France, 1868–1949) Rita de Acosta Lydig, ca. 1913 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Travis Banton (American, 1894–1958) Evening Dress, 1934
Black silk, sequins Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Martin Munkacsi (American, born Hungary, 1896-1963) Lucile Brokaw, Piping Rock Beach, Long Island, 1933 © Martin Munkacsi Estate
Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity
May 5 – August 15, 2010
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue,
New York