Flapper Art

(collection of paintings on one of Natasha's favorite subjects - the Flappers from the 1920's)

"I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from the lives of strong women."
Ruth Benedict

"I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I'm out of my sphere now, for woman's special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens."
Louisa May Alcott

If somebody were to ask me what type of a woman I most identify with and admire I would undoubtedly say an American Flapper. On the surface a woman from the 1920’s was fun, independent, broke all the rules and didn’t give a hoot as to what other people thought about her. What’s not to admire? Although, the real reason why I love Flappers so much has nothing to do with superficial qualities or appearances and everything to do with my belief that I understand what kind of challenges many of them had to endure.

Rebelling against the norms and being unapologetic about it doesn’t just take a lot of guts; it takes a lot of character. A lot of modern Western women fancy themselves rebels because they are told that they live in a male dominated society. As someone who has experienced life outside the land of PC police I can attest to the fact that a woman living in the Western world hardly needs strong character or guts to deal with modern men. A small arsenal of hefty phrases, such as ‘sexual harassment’, ‘male chauvinist’, etc., pretty much insures that a modern woman can express herself as freely as she might like. On the other hand, Flappers had to prove themselves to their male counterparts, they had to fight to be admired and respected and they didn’t complain about being women. I can relate to that and I’m happy that I had to go through many challenges to prove myself to the others and myself. Dealing with unfairness allows us to find out what we are made of. I, personally, love knowing what I’m capable of and who I am and I don’t think I would have known that if I were sheltered from everything that might‘ve hurt my feelings. So viva la Flapper! Lets celebrate the inner fighters in us and enjoy our every moment no matter how hard it might be.

*The painting above is called "Playful Flapper" (oil and collage on cardboard, 9X12, 2009)