Women of Action at the New-York Historical Society

"Suffragettes" by Clarice Smith 

Shame on me for never having visited the New-York Historical Society before my most recent trip to New York. I suspect I'm not alone. There was a seriously long line of people waiting to get into the Natural History Museum (located right next door). Suzanne and I congratulated ourselves for choosing a venue with very few visitors -- all the better for us! -- but I'm not sure the empty rooms were actually a good thing. And just in case you're wondering, the hyphen in "New-York" is not a typo.The inclusion was common practice when the Society was founded back in 1804. Who knew? Now on to some art. 

As we walked up the stairs of the Society, we came upon this wonderful stained glass triptych by Clarice Smith depicting the women's suffrage movement. The work was commissioned by the Society to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that belatedly gave women the right to vote. Sadly, we didn't see a wall card about the work nor did Smith include any information about it on her website. So you have carte blanche to create your own stories about the women depicted. For more on Smith and her art, click here.

"Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines"
by Betye Sayre (2017) 

In Betye Sayre's "Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines," a Jim Crow-era mammy has answered a call to arms. The broom in her right hand -- and the washboard on which the work was created -- tell the viewer she is performing traditional female/slave roles. But when you look carefully you see that her left hand wields an assault weapon. Like most women, she's a multi-tasker. 

"Extreme Times" is from a series of washboard assemblages created by Saar. The use of washboards in her work pays homage to the labor of washerwomen, one of the few jobs open to Black women following abolition. These women typically worked 16 hours a day in a literal sweat shop. What an existence. 

Saar's thoughts about her assemblages in general and this work in particular were provided on the wall card. It reads: "In my assemblages, I use vintage materials...Every object has a story of their use before they were discarded. By creating an assemblage, I reinterpret their use and rewrite their story. In 'Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines,' the washboard is used as a background element to depict racism and sexism... [A] wooden mammy with an apron patterned with a slave ship diagram wields a machine gun, transforming the servant mammy into a warrior... A vintage clock sits atop the washboard to juxtapose the passage of time with the lack of social progress." Powerful stuff. For more on Saar and her work, click here. 

Next up is a war poster encouraging women to get a job. Our eyes nearly rolled out of our heads at the sexist portrayal. The poster most people associate with women working during WWII depicts Rosie the Riveter heralding, "We Can Do It!" The famous poster came about after a song written about a 19 year old woman named Rosalind working as a riveter on Corsair fighter planes became popular. (Click here for the song and some great images of women at work.) But a wide range of posters were created in hopes of appealing to different demographics, including married women.

A bit of research provided some context. The idea of middle class married women working at all, much less in industrial jobs, was a radical concept at the time. During the Depression married women were actively discouraged -- or even barred -- from holding many jobs. Many companies forbid the employment of a husband and wife, a policy resulting in the lesser compensated woman leaving her job. Other employers had policies -- referred to as marriage bans -- requiring women to quit their jobs when they married. These policies were legal until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, sex or ethnic origin. 

Even Francis Perkins, Commissioner of Labor for the State of New York and a woman herself, was opposed to women working who didn't need to do so to support their household. She declared, "The woman 'pin-money worker' who competes with the necessity worker is a menace to society, a selfish, shortsighted creature, who ought to be ashamed of herself. Until we have every woman in this community earning a living wage...I am not willing to encourage those who are under no economic necessities to compete with their charm and education, their superior advantages, against the working girl who has only her two hands." Perkins went on to become FDR's Secretary of Labor. In case you're wondering, Perkins was married but her husband was frequently institutionalized due to mental illness and could not hold a job. 

The bottom line is that by the time WWII occurred, married women working outside the home was not the norm. Yet these women were necessary to both the war effort and the economy. Posters like the one on display at the Society were one way of encouraging a change in this mindset. To see a wide assortment of these posters (you can even buy one!), click here. 

Maquette for Strauss Memorial Park Sculpture 
by Henry Augustus Lukeman (1915) 

After all that marching and fighting and fretting over whether to go to work, some relaxation seems in order. So I'll leave you with this beautiful maquette of a sculpture created by Henry Augustus Lukeman for Strauss Park Memorial Park on the Upper West Side. 

Isidor and Ida Strauss were German immigrants who came to New York and did very well for themselves. He was a Congressman and a co-owner of Macys. Sadly, they found themselves on the Titanic on its fateful voyage. Committed to each other until the end, Ida refused to leave Isidor behind despite his pleas that she get on a lifeboat. 

Lukeman's sculpture is entitled "Memory," and she reclines in front of a bench with a biblical inscription that reads "Lovely and pleasant were they in their lives/and in their deaths they were not divided." To see the final sculpture as it sits in the Park, click here. 

All in all, my inaugural visit to New York's very first museum was quite successful. It has officially been added to the rotation. For more on the Society, click here.