GRAPHIC SENSATIONS: VOGUE AND THE POLITICS OF THE BODY, 1930-1945 BY RACHEL ROSEBOROUGH WHITE DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Terri Weissman, Chair Associate Professor Lisa Rosenthal Assistant Professor Kristin Romberg Professor Leslie Reagan Abstract This dissertation analyzes the visual program and material body of American Vogue magazine, a publication dedicated to the modern woman, during two tumultuous decades before the mid-century. In the 1930s, images of the female body, as well as the composition of the page, radically changed, as snapshots, streamlined design, and modern dress reform energized the look and experience of reading Vogue. As the next decade brought war, Vogue documented men and women in the American Armed Forces stationed in Europe and transmitted images of burned, mutilated, and broken bodies back to readers at home. Cover photographs of active, healthy women in the 1930s would shift to highly stylized, fractured images of the female form in the 1940s. The visual modifications to Vogue in the 1930s and 1940s were not merely aesthetic, but heavily inflected by shifting cultural, social, and economic norms during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Analyzing images by key Vogue photographers such as Toni Frissell, Lee Miller, and Erwin Blumenfeld in relation to page layouts, typography, clothing design, and popular culture, this project uncovers how photography and design promoted new strategies to connect with white female communities and articulate evolving definitions of the body and subjectivity. I argue the photographers and art directors under consideration here enhanced the concept of the magazine as a haptic medium by creating visual forms that privileged sensorial connections. Whereas fashion magazines have traditionally been undervalued in academic scholarship, this dissertation draws on feminist theory and studies of materiality to situate Vogue as a crucial object for understanding how the politics of the body shaped mass media, as the magazine fashioned new perceptual experiences for engaging with, and translating, modern women and forms of femininity. ii Acknowledgements This dissertation has been many years in the making, in large part because I began this project just as I started a full-time career in museums. While spending my days teaching from objects on walls or in vitrines in galleries, this project allowed me space to think about objects that were touched, paged through, and held. I want to first thank my advisor, Terri Weissman, for believing that I could tackle this project and for her steadfast encouragement and critical insights that have helped me to deepen and refine my arguments. She saw the gems when I was in the weeds. I would also like to thank my committee, Lisa Rosenthal, Kristin Romberg, and Leslie Reagan. The discussion during my defense was a model of feminist practice and mentorship — incredibly generative, supportive, and critically constructive. I would also like to thank other mentors as part of graduate school and this project. Alexander Dumbadze was an early encourager of my work and first pushed me to consider the PhD. Irene Small tested and expanded my thinking on feminism and form. Jennifer Greenhill stoked a curiosity and rigorous thinking of magazines as a rich site of investigation and imagination. My gratitude to those that assisted me in archival work over the course of the development of this dissertation. In particular, my thanks to Shawn Waldron and Marianne Brown at Condé Nast in New York for opening the Condé Nast and Edna Woolman Chase archives and consulting with me on fashion photography. Tony Penrose, Ami Bouhassane, and Kerry Negahban at the Lee Miller Archives in Chiddingly, East Sussex, United Kingdom allowed me access to Miller’s unpublished material and photographs; I’ll never forget looking through these materials in Miller’s former home in the country and for the stiff afternoon coffee in the last, furious hours of research as the sun set. Penrose introduced me to Pam Gosling iii Makin, who shared with me about growing up during the war, working at Vogue, and memories of Miller. Hilary Roberts at the Imperial War Museum generously shared her wealth of knowledge on the Ministry of Information and its relation to the fashion press and photography. Yvette Blumenfeld Georges Deeton shared her grandfather Erwin Blumenfeld’s letters with me in New York and offered insight into his practice. I would also like to thank Mary Savig at the Archives of American Art for allowing me access to the Alexander Liberman papers and the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress for granting access to Toni Frissell’s correspondence in Washington, DC. I would like to also thank my dearest friends forged in graduate school. Laura McGowan, Jenny Stettler Parsons, and Mary Savig at the George Washington University and Lauren Applebaum, Miriam Kienle, and Heather Tennison at the University of Illinois are tremendous friends, support systems, and brilliant scholars. These women sustained me during the most stressful periods, and continue to sustain me with their infectious humor, buoyancy, and friendship. My thanks to Ron Buffington at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, for offering me the opportunity to teach a course on magazines, and to my students who sparked new thinking on this project through our conversations and in the creative interventions they made with their own magazines as responses. To my dear friends at UTC: Jordan Amirkhani, now at American University, was a revelation for my critical thinking, offering generous feedback and modeling what socially-engaged art historical and contemporary scholarship looks like. Christina Renfer Vogel continually gave support and laughter, and Aggie Toppins—whether in our deep conversations, in her work, or in a cocktail riffing on theory—perpetually inspires me to think about the critical and affective potential of materiality and graphic design. iv To my former colleagues at the Krannert Art Museum, in particular Anne Sautman and Katie Koca Polite, thank you for being early cheerleaders on this project. At the Hunter Museum of American Art, Adera Causey encouraged me every step of the way to forge forward, Cara McGowan lifted me with her humor, and Nandini Makrandi gave, and continues to give, constant support, advice, and unconditional friendship. My deepest gratitude to Graham Boettcher and Meghan Ann Hellenga at the Birmingham Museum of Art for gifting the time and continually encouraging me to write this dissertation during my critical last year. To my colleagues in the Education department, Lana Beardslee, Lindsey Hammel, Emily Hylton, Meredith Knight, Angie May, and Willow Scott, you are an amazing group of women to work with each day. To all of my colleagues at the BMA for their support, in particular Cate Boehm, Kate Crawford, Emily Hanna, Sean Pathasema, Hallie Ringle, Robert Schindler, James Williams, and Don Wood, thank you for your enthusiasm to get to the finish line and inspiring me every day on the incredible work museums can do, as well as writing with me in coffee shops and sending cards, texts, and balloons—you helped me get through the most difficult final months. My thanks to my in-laws, Micky Miller and Carolyn Miller, for their cheerleading over the years. My deep love and gratitude to my parents Johnny White and Ruth White, who always put education first for their children and made incredible sacrifices to do so. This dissertation is dedicated to Jay Miller, who has been with me from the very beginning. His generosity has no bounds. And this project is for Campbell Miller, who came, with his beautiful, inquisitive spirit, at the end. v List of Figures Fig. 1: Claude-Louis Desrais, Jeune Dame Coeffée au Hérisson, Fashion Plate from Galerie des Modes et Costumes Français, Dessinés D'Après Nature, 1778-1787 Fig. 2: A. B. Wenzel, Vogue, December 17, 1892 Fig. 3: Helen Dryden, Vogue, October 1922 Fig. 4: Vogue, July 8, 1909 Fig. 5: Adolph de Meyer, Vogue, September 1920 Fig. 6: Edward Steichen, Vogue, June 1, 1924 Fig. 7: Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767 Fig. 8: Edward Steichen, Vogue, November 1, 1935 Fig. 9: Toni Frissell, Vogue, August 15, 1934 Fig: 10: Toni Frissell, Vogue, December 15, 1937 Fig. 11: Toni Frissell, Vogue, December 15, 1938 Fig. 12: Toni Frissell, Vogue, August 15, 1937 Fig. 13: Toni Frissell, Vogue, September 15, 1931 Fig. 14: George Hoyningen-Huene, Vogue, July 5, 1930 Fig. 15: Horst P. Horst, Vogue, November 15, 1932 Fig. 16. Toni Frissell, Vogue, September 15, 1935 Fig. 17: Weegee, PM, July 22, 1940 Fig. 18: Lisette Model, Harper’s Bazaar, July 1941 Fig. 19: Wolff, Vogue, July 15, 1935 Fig. 20: Toni Frissell, Vogue, June 15, 1934 Fig. 21 Dorothea Lange, San Francisco News, March 10, 1936 Fig. 22. Kodak Advertisement, 1909 Fig. 23: Kodak Advertisement, 1914 vi Fig. 24. Kodakery, February 1931 Fig. 25: Martin Munkácsi, Harper's Bazaar, December 1933 Fig. 26. Alexey Brodovitch (designer), Harper's Bazaar, March 1936 Fig. 27: Vogue, March 15, 1927 Fig. 28: Toni Frissell, Vogue, January 1, 1933 Fig. 29: Toni Frissell, Vogue, May 15, 1935 Fig 30. Toni Frissell, Vogue, June 15, 1936 Fig. 31: Vogue, December 15, 1938 Fig. 32: Vogue, November 24, 1928 Fig. 33: Toni Frissell, Vogue, February 15, 1933 Fig. 34: Dorothea and Maryal Knox at Rye Beach, NY, ca.1900. Fig. 35: Vogue, August 29, 1895 Fig. 36: Vogue, June 1, 1920 Fig. 37: Edward Steichen, Vogue, January 15, 1926 Fig. 38: Toni Frissell, Vogue, June 1, 1937 Fig. 39: United States Rubber Company Advertisement, Vogue, May 1, 1939 Fig. 40: Ocean Bathing Suit Co.