Date: May 22, 2006
Stop: August 6, 2006
Media Contact: Patricia White
706-722-8454 or pwhite@csra.net

America the Beautiful: Women and the Flag
May 26 – August 6, 2006

The Augusta Museum of History will open its new traveling exhibition, America the Beautiful: Women and the Flag on Friday, May 26, 2006.

The Augusta Museum of History is celebrating American patriotism with an exhibition comprised of 120 prints, posters, sheet music covers, postcards, magazine illustrations, and advertisements that depict vibrant images of women and the American flag. The works are from a private collection in the Hudson Highlands. Sometimes the flag sets off the figure; sometimes the figure waves the flag or holds it aloft. Often, the artists have boldly transformed the flag into an exuberantly witty, inventive, or handsome costume. The works date primarily from the Civil War era to World War II, with the greatest number created between about 1900 and 1920—from America’s success in the Spanish-American War (1898) through the era of World War I.

The images include allegorical figures (America, Columbia, and Liberty) and related spirited patriots. There are images enlisting support for wartime fundraising efforts, ancient goddess types expressing democratic values, celebrants of American heroism or products, and fierce warrior maidens. The best known works in the exhibition are posters and magazine illustrations from World War I, including works by Howard Chandler Christy and James Montgomery Flagg; however, many other artists who were well known in their day are represented by a wide variety of works that also reached wide audiences.

The works relate to many historical events as well as to numerous social currents, among them the burgeoning of patriotic music (which required sheet music covers), the heyday of richly illustrated postcards, and the expansion of advertising. Connections to the history of costume abound. And, the theme reflects aspects of the emancipation of women in the early years of the twentieth century.

The Augusta Museum of History is located at 560 Reynolds Street in downtown Augusta. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Admission is: Adult: $4•Senior: $3•Child: (6-18) $2-(5and under) Free