“We Can Do It!” – World War II poster

This poster has inspired women in the United States since the 1980s, with its message of strength and its suggestion that women can succeed in a man’s world. Rolling up the sleeve of a men’s type workshirt to flex her bicep, her hair tied out of the way in the iconic red-and-white polka-dot kerchief, glaring at us through long lashes, she is both beautiful and fierce. The poster was originally commissioned by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, from graphic designer J….

Can an Empress be the Equal of her Emperor Husband? Empress Theodora and Attendants, 547

Empress Theodora (c. 500-548), the woman in dark purple, was an important historical leader in the Byzantine Empire, yet history has not been kind to her. Her origins are unknown (she was not born a royal, so no one recorded her early life), and her critics have confused the issue. Perhaps the worst, and also most famous, assertion was that she was a circus performer and a whore. Even though her beginnings are unknown and the worst parts may just…

Are you a Peeping Tom? John Collier, Lady Godiva, c. 1897

Should we be looking at this nude woman as she rides by on her lavishly dressed horse, head bowed, and holding her long hair across her chest?  Art, of course, is meant to be looked at, to be enjoyed, but this woman’s story suggests otherwise. She’s Lady Godiva, who according to legend lived in Coventry, England, in the 11th century.  The heavy taxes levied by her husband, Leofric, Early of Mercia, led to protests among the townspeople.  Godiva pleaded with…

Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830

You might wonder why this powerful woman steps barefoot and barebreasted across the barricades of the 1830 French Revolution: more akin to a classical goddess than a living woman, she’s an allegory of the idea of liberty. This painting has become the visual icon of a series of French revolutions, beginning in 1789, which aimed to overthrow the monarchy and the aristocracy, and establish a new social order, under the slogan “liberty, equality, fraternity.” Here, Liberty is personified by the…