The idea of the female, both in form and in psyche, has been debated as long as art has been produced. Two particular examples of artists and their representation of the female stand out and allow for a greater comparison: The Guerrilla Girls and Howard Chandler Christy’s ‘Christy’s Girls’. To a certain extent, both artists focus on the duality of women, however, The Guerilla Girls focus on the psyche and the actuality of the woman whereas ‘Christy’s Girls’ represented the form of the woman and their perceived purpose set out by men. The Guerilla Girls are the epitome of unabashed warfare and calling the viewer out on their actions as well as an example of clean, uncluttered design. Whereas Howard Chandler Christy represents the subtle nuances:
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The Guerilla Girls also represent the intersection of guerrilla marketing techniques and the central ideologies of feminism: an appeal to the masses without sacrificing the message of a need for gender and racial equality in the artistic world. However, the appeal of the Guerrilla Girl’s propaganda is not the same as the appeal of Howard Chandler Christy’s propaganda that he created in the late 1910s: Christy sought to use the women he illustrated as a means of getting a point across about the war effort whereas the Guerrilla Girls sought to use a ‘war for feminism’ to get a point across about women and their obvious lack of equality in the art world. The Guerrilla Girls had no other motivation than to promote the equal treatment of women specifically in the art world whereas Christy’s sole motivation in creating his propaganda posters for the United States government was to promote the idea of the masculine war hero through the lens of a woman playing dress …show more content…
Specifically in “Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man” (1917) Christy contrasts the seemingly feminine hand lettering of ‘I’d join the Navy’ to the more masculine and, arguably the more important, block lettering. Christy’s typography choices even point to the idea that Christy used women for the sole purpose of their physicality: the more female hand lettering adds a dreamy quality to the poster while the more critical information, the location of the nearest recruiting station done in a sort of straight-laced male block lettering, furthering the idea of women as
The Guerilla Girls also represent the intersection of guerrilla marketing techniques and the central ideologies of feminism: an appeal to the masses without sacrificing the message of a need for gender and racial equality in the artistic world. However, the appeal of the Guerrilla Girl’s propaganda is not the same as the appeal of Howard Chandler Christy’s propaganda that he created in the late 1910s: Christy sought to use the women he illustrated as a means of getting a point across about the war effort whereas the Guerrilla Girls sought to use a ‘war for feminism’ to get a point across about women and their obvious lack of equality in the art world. The Guerrilla Girls had no other motivation than to promote the equal treatment of women specifically in the art world whereas Christy’s sole motivation in creating his propaganda posters for the United States government was to promote the idea of the masculine war hero through the lens of a woman playing dress …show more content…
Specifically in “Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man” (1917) Christy contrasts the seemingly feminine hand lettering of ‘I’d join the Navy’ to the more masculine and, arguably the more important, block lettering. Christy’s typography choices even point to the idea that Christy used women for the sole purpose of their physicality: the more female hand lettering adds a dreamy quality to the poster while the more critical information, the location of the nearest recruiting station done in a sort of straight-laced male block lettering, furthering the idea of women as