Women in the 19C United States of America: Elegant but Practical Gifts - Japonisme Parasols in Paintings by American Artists

Friday, December 28, 2018

Elegant but Practical Gifts - Japonisme Parasols in Paintings by American Artists

Edward Horace Nicholson (1901 – 1966) Lady with Umbrella

Ethel Mars (1876 – 1956) Nice

Ethel Mars (1876 – 1956) Umbrella

Guy Rose (1867 – 1925) The Model

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) A Gust of Wind

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) Lady with a Parasol

Hamilton Hamilton (1847 – 1928) Stroll through the Garden

Jean Mannheim (1861 – 1945) Lonely Tea Party

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) In Repose

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Red Headed Girl with a Parasol

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Under the Parasol

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Young Lady with Her Sunshade under the Trees

Karl Albert Buehr (1866 – 1952) Young Woman with Parasol

Lillian Mathilde Genth (1876 – 1953) Summer Morning

Lucy Drake Marlow (1890 – 1978) Parasol

Marguerite Stuber Pearson (1898 – 1978) The Red Parasol

Susan Ricker Knox (1874 – 1959) In Lilac Time

William John Hennessy (1839 – 1917) The Japanese Parasol

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”