Pretty Pictures

A Girl Named Muriel

Art can often be an outlet for our preoccupations and obsessions. Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Muriel whose fascination with the spirit of the “new woman” in 1920′s America cultivated in a series of sweet and crudely drawn images of what it means to be woman. Starting in 1920 with the right to vote, a new generation of women emerged; confident and provocative, glamorous and giddy. For the first time, women were able to enjoy the country’s new found prosperity and express themselves and their budding sexuality in post war America.

Muriel Lawrence’s book of simple drawings document an unprecedented period of joy and celebration for women, free to cut their hair, wear make-up and emerge from centuries of crippling repression. I am woman, hear me roar.