Una Lady Troubridge Essay
Una, Lady Troubridge: Fashion Contexts
The focus of the portrait is in the eyes of the figure, slate grey and under furrowed brows. A look of intelligence and seriousness looks back at the viewer behind a monocle and is framed by a severe haircut (blunt bangs and a short bob). The gender of the figure is ambiguous; the only clues to her sex are the shape of the lips, pink and feminine. The diamond earring, too, lends to her identity as a woman. However, the rest of her attire, from the black top hat to the formal men’s wear, is entirely masculine. The stance of the figure is masculine as well–front-facing and proud, direct and prominent. If following her right arm down, you find her hand resting on a dachshund, one of two present in the portrait. The black fur of both of these animals is glossy and interrupted …show more content…
During the war, while men were enlisted, greater opportunities for women arose in education, politics, and business. Many achieved good jobs during the war and were able to keep them afterwards. Romaine Brooks, for example, had already belonged to the art world before the societal changes but still utilized the new opportunities for women. Her painting, La France Croisee (painted in 1914 and shown in Fig. 2), “put a feminine face on heroism (Latimer 21).” Additionally, she focused her time and energies in fund raising for the Red Cross. She would later earn the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, the highest decoration of honor in France, for her contributions (Latimer 20-21). Una Troubridge gained her affluence as a sculptor and the prominence that she found resulted from the new opportunities that World War I and post-war reconstruction held for women. The affluence she attained is apparent in the portrait: the strong gaze, the straight pose, the front-facing body. All of these aesthetics stray from conventional portraits of
The focus of the portrait is in the eyes of the figure, slate grey and under furrowed brows. A look of intelligence and seriousness looks back at the viewer behind a monocle and is framed by a severe haircut (blunt bangs and a short bob). The gender of the figure is ambiguous; the only clues to her sex are the shape of the lips, pink and feminine. The diamond earring, too, lends to her identity as a woman. However, the rest of her attire, from the black top hat to the formal men’s wear, is entirely masculine. The stance of the figure is masculine as well–front-facing and proud, direct and prominent. If following her right arm down, you find her hand resting on a dachshund, one of two present in the portrait. The black fur of both of these animals is glossy and interrupted …show more content…
During the war, while men were enlisted, greater opportunities for women arose in education, politics, and business. Many achieved good jobs during the war and were able to keep them afterwards. Romaine Brooks, for example, had already belonged to the art world before the societal changes but still utilized the new opportunities for women. Her painting, La France Croisee (painted in 1914 and shown in Fig. 2), “put a feminine face on heroism (Latimer 21).” Additionally, she focused her time and energies in fund raising for the Red Cross. She would later earn the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, the highest decoration of honor in France, for her contributions (Latimer 20-21). Una Troubridge gained her affluence as a sculptor and the prominence that she found resulted from the new opportunities that World War I and post-war reconstruction held for women. The affluence she attained is apparent in the portrait: the strong gaze, the straight pose, the front-facing body. All of these aesthetics stray from conventional portraits of