Women’s Studies

Comments (0) By Brooke Foster Wednesday, Nov 14 2007

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The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on Washington University’s campus (Forsyth and Skinker boulevards) is a cultural gem packed with beautiful, challenging artwork. Friday, November 16, brings an embarrassment of riches: the opening of two new exhibitions, Beauty and the Blonde: An Exploration of American Art and Popular Culture and Ephemeral Beauty: Al Parker and the American Women’s Magazine, 1940 to 1960. Both exhibits contemplate the female image and explore how artists’ renderings can affect advertising, culture and women’s own ideas of themselves. Beauty and the Blonde focuses on the veneration (and objectification) of flaxen-haired women; the exhibit includes iconic works from many artists, including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Roy Lichtenstein. Ephemeral Beauty showcases the extraordinary magazine illustrations of St. Louis native Al Parker, whose drawings both reflected and shaped the “feminine mystique” of the mid-twentieth century. The two exhibits open with a 7-to-10-p.m. public reception, which includes a cash bar, and run through Monday, January 28. Admission to the Kemper is free; visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu or call 314-935-4523 for more information.
Mondays-Sundays. Starts: Nov. 16. Continues through Jan. 28, 2007