1918, WW1 had ended and the roaring
twenties were just around the corner, introducing new technology and the
beginning of economic growth opened up a new opportunity for women. The collage
is dressed with femininity and the possibility of hope for women. The
background image is an advertisement for BMW, which dominates the collage with
the blue gaining much eye attention against the neutral beiges and orange. The
neutralization of the main colour; beige could indicate the equality that women
could hope for, due to the colour not aligning with any gender.
Beyond the colours, a main point to discuss
is that what is in the collage itself. As already established the collage
contains overlaying images of metal with femininity. However the part that I
was most drawn to when viewing this was the hair, a fashionable style of the
time it stands out because it is the biggest image in the piece. The fact that
it is coincidently placed above the woman in her bathing suite could insinuate
the growing larger presence women could possibly have. The light bulb usually
has connotations with bright ideas and by swapping the woman’s head with a bulb
could indicate the ideas women have being made reality. Furthermore the woman
in this brings forth the superficiality of women. The big hair is styled and
the woman in the bathing suite represents the fashion of the time. It brings a
realization that there is a false look on women, Hoch in this image is not
complimenting that but bringing it to attention. A trademark move, Hoch usually
removes faces and eyes of faces in her collages, I feel this is a way of
stripping the personality and making it universal; for everyone to align too or
have their own observations. I feel this collage overall screams the lack of
identity that women had at this time in Germany, instead of being equal with
men they were on a par with machines – invented by man. So in a way men own
them and the superficial way Hoch has portrayed the women is the way men like
to view women, beautiful and empty. The title ‘The Beautiful Girl’ is a major
point within discussion, as there is no main girl to call beautiful, Hoch could
in fact be aiming this at the machines as well, due to machines always being
called ‘she’. This brings even more depth to the collage and the point she is
trying to make.
I feel this collage is important as it is
displaying so many things at once, women’s hope, men’s realities, Germanys
industrialization and modernization and the lack of individuality and
personality that is in a way insinuating that we are all products of the
machine.
