Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition

Abstract

Wanda M. Corn's study of the art of the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition demonstrates that there is always more to say about this monumental event. She demonstrates that female artists used their art to engage in contemporary political debates about women's roles and activities. Her careful analysis of the artwork reveals “a female gaze resisting and reforming the male one” (p. 9). Therefore, she argues, the art of the Woman's Building provides a new window onto the nineteenth-century “emancipation of women,” as it revealed “what female artists had to say on the rare occasions when they were asked to ‘speak’ in public” (p. 10). Corn's clearly written and careful analysis of the varied works of the building make a strong case for considering the structure as an important moment in the history of women's cultural production. The book includes the traditional narrative written by Corn, sidebars on related historical topics by Annelise K. Madsen, and biographies of key players by Charlene G. Garfinkle. Although the integration of these three components can be confusing, particularly as the sidebars are placed on the top half of pages and continue for two or more pages, the result is a more thorough discussion of the historical relevance of the building than traditionally offered by works of art history. Although Corn's artistic analyses are thorough and insightful, her failure to consider recent historical works on the building, such as Tracey Jean Boisseau's “White Queens at the Chicago World's Fair” (Gender and History, April 2000, pp. 33–81), detracts from her ability to address all aspects of the building's significance. Race, for instance, key to Boisseau's analysis, is glossed over here, leaving readers wondering how Corn's analysis might change with a more thorough integration of race and class.