Mercedes-Benz Financial Services

Jessica P. Dawson

TCU, BFA 2018

Women’s Day 2017

Digital illustrations, 2016, 15"w x 25"h

Art Nouveau posters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were known for their hard outlines, confining margins and text as key elements. Women were also prominently featured, with their flowing hair used as ornamentation. The specific poster that inspired this one was by German artist Karl Stadler, in which a woman wields an amorphous red flag to promote women’s suffrage. The red-flag-wielding woman went on to become a popular motif in posters with women-centric themes. My twist on the genre features an African-American woman breaking out of the margins of the Art Nouveau tradition.

Jessica P. Dawson - Women’s Day 2017

1 Comment

  1. April Brown says:
    January 30th, 2019 at 1:29 pm

    Striking and relevant. Inspirational, as African-American women are often invisible in multiple spaces, this piece gives visibility to this demographic.

Leave a Comment

A Daimler Company