Ephemeral Beauty: Al Parker and the American Womens Magazine, 1940-1960 displays the work of this accomplished illustrator and contributor to the American aesthetic of the mid-twentieth century. Parker, a St. Louis native and graduate of the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University, is best known for creating illustrations for women's magazines in the post-war era.
Magazines were extremely significant to popular visual culture in an age before television, and Parker and his contemporaries enjoyed a large audience for their work. Parker's illustrations fostered connections between the magazines he worked with and the women reading them by including elements evoking middle- and upper-class suburban lifestyles of that era and creating a tangiel, visual representation of a specific feminine ideal. The signature of Parker's work was his ability to adapt to innovations in visual culture and push the boundaries of illustration by incorporating influences from photography and film.
In the Museum's College of Art Gallery from November 16, 2007 to January 28, 2008, Ephemeral Beauty was organized by Stephanie Plunkett, curator at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, with D. B. Dowd, professor of visual communications in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University.
Comments
September 28, 2009 10:25am
Dear Ms. Singer:
I was not sure who to address my comment to, so thank you for your time.
I was excited to see that Kemper initiating the effort to bring attention to some of the wonderful non profit arts organizations in St. Louis. Many of which are in close proximatity of each other.
To my surprise The St. Louis Artists' Guild was left out. It is the oldest and largest arts organization west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1886 the Guild has thrived and been host to some of St. Louis' most famous artists. They have a long history of association w/ Washington University. The founding members were students at the WU School of Arts. The St. Louis Sketch Group was founded because women were not allowed at the School of Arts. After a short time the Sketch Group became the St. Louis Artists' Guild.
To this day professors of Washington University show their work at the Guild, and have been solicited to jury exhibitions, both local and national competitions.
I hope you get a chance to visit the Guild if you have not done so already. Please visit their website so you can see all that the Guild has to offer. http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/history_view?page=1
Thank you again for your time and consideration. I hope Kemper decides to add the Guild to the St. Louis Art Map.
Robyn
September 29, 2009 09:18am
Robyn, thanks for your comment. I will bring this to the attention to the rest of the participating institutions as well.
December 10, 2009 18:34pm
Yes, I agreed with Robyn.
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