Inside and Outside the Frame: The Female Figure as Subject and Artist

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which women were pictorially represented in the artwork of the era and includes genealogical links rooted in Greek and Roman considerations. This representation of the female form includes commercial imagery, political artwork related to First World War recruitment campaigns, Modernism particularly in respect of Vorticism, and portraiture and self-portraiture by predominantly female artists during the decade 1908–1918. These include Laura Knight, Carrington and Helen Saunders, and the exploration incorporates analysis of both the clothed and nude female figure in pictorial portrayals and how William Hogarth’s line of beauty can be discerned within productive manifestations of the female form.