Shadow Lives

On Monday we visited the exhibition of American Prints
at the British Museum.
It is headlined as The American Scene
and features classic images of American life:
small towns and big cities,
Prohibition and the Depression,
War and survival,
brutal sport and stark industrial landscapes.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Shadow Magic, 1939

As I walked around I found myself drawn to the pictures
featuring the lives of women and those by women artists.
It is only a small selection
but it gives a tiny insight into private worlds,
quite diferent from the larger perspectives
of the majority of prints.

John Sloan (1871 - 1951) The Women's Page, 1905

This woman sits and reads a magazine
surrounded by evidence of poverty and deprivation.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Quarter of Nine, Saturday's Children 1929

Here the shopgirls of New York,
“Saturdays Children” who work hard for a living,
step out with energy and optimism .

Doris Lee (1905-1983) Helicopter, 1948

I discovered Doris Lee for the first time!
How I love her naive style which records domestic life
with such intimacy and detail.
This picture reminded me of Angie at Children in the Corn

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) East Side Interior - New York 1922

This image touched me.
She sits by the window
on the boundary of her internal domestic life
and looks outwards at the world.
It captures what blogging is all about for me.