Introduction: Women in the Frame

Abstract

This chapter describes the premise of the book, and sets out the fields in which pictorial representation of the female form between 1908 and 1918 is explored. These incorporate the First World War, suffrage movements, advertising and avant-garde art movements, particularly Vorticism. The chapter expresses how the subject matter is situated in an historical/art-historical narrative that sees the role of women diminished or entirely excluded. Although this book is not dedicated to feminist theory, the focus on pictorial representation of women can be seen as contributory to the wider discourse that surrounds it. In analysing recurring motifs and pictorial tropes as genealogical threads, the chapter also examines the concept of visible continua, particularly in respect of William Hogarth’s line of beauty.