ETA 31 May 2009 10EST: Harlequin’s blog has been sending folks over to see the review and the swag contest, so to give those folks a chance, I’m re-opening the contest for another 24 hours. This time, there will be TWO bags, so two winners will take home a big bucket o’swag. Ready set go!
This afternoon I went to the press premiere of the Harlequin cover art gallery display, better known as “The Heart of a Woman: Harlequin Cover Art 1949 – 2009. The show opens tonight and runs through 12 June, and is open for folks to see at the Openhouse Gallery, 201 Mulberry Street in SoHo.
The Curator of the exhibit, Elizabeth Semmelhack, was kind enough to take me on a brief tour of some of her favorite parts of the exhibit. Bullet points ahoy!
– Elizabeth’s favorite part of the exhibit is “The Lure of the Exotic” – but to understand why that’s her favorite section, you have to see the section leading up to it.
– Women during WWII were empowered – jobs! workforce! your country needs you! Rosie! There’s rivets! Get to it! – then, after WWII, they were all laid off, pushed back into the domestic sphere, and removed from that professional life with stunning speed.
– If you look at the doctor/nurse covers from the 50’s, there’s a lot of professional interest. The women are almost always shown in their work role.
– There are some powerful images, like the Byzantine Christ-like image of a doctor complete with 90-degree angled jaw floating in a halo of light above a hospital.
– And alongside that image are women and men in professional spheres, interacting in the workplace. The romance, says Elizabeth, was the every day interaction of women and men in professional settings. It wasn’t about the rescue or the sweeping her off her feet. The imagery was professional and collegial.
– Then, in “The Lure of the Exotic,” the images show the progress from nurse in a local hospital to doctor in a remote, uncivilized location. The women were the doctors—they were already adventurous and in these covers achieve the most powerful position. They’re outside of the house and home, they’re in control and in some position of authority—“…and only that far away from civilization can women be doctors?” I asked. “Yup,” Elizabeth confirmed. Women doctors were in the wild.
– The passionate clinch didn’t start showing up until the 70’s – a response to the sexual ambivalence of the time.
So, does Elizabeth read romance? Turns out: no. She hardly has any time for pleasure reading of any kind, but she’s a huge non fiction history buff, and she loves reading history books. She did read a few Harlequins as she prepared for the exhibit – and from idea and concept to finished product was the fast-paced work of a few months – and really enjoyed them, she said. She read a Blaze and said, and I quote, “Oh, my gosh.”
So, want to see more? I put up a photo album of the exhibit with additional captions. Enjoy – and thank you to Harlequin for inviting me.
I was given an extra goodybag of swag – pictured here. There’s books, bookmarks, a calendar, and some really cool notepads. Want one? Leave a comment, and you’re entered to win. I’ll pick one comment at random.
Love the walk down cover art memory lane. That was awesome and makes me wish I’d kept all the old Harlequins I’d read…um…a very long time ago. *sigh*
And the swag? Whoa. Covet.
Oh yay, comments are open again! I just wanted to say that I loved the two shots in the gallery that you took where you got to see the “before” image of how a cover photoshoot was done and then the resulting cover it inspired of the actual Blaze. I’d never seen that before and thought that was totally fascinating!
JT
Me! Me!
-anin
When we used to go to my grandparents in North Carolina, I can remember being amazed by my granny’s wall of Harlequin books, so a lot of those covers look familiar to me. I’m proud to be a third generation romance book reader! I would love to win some swag…
Sign me up!!! *grin*
The hero of Where the Wolf Leads is called Dracon Leloupblanc, which makes him sound to me like Dragon White Wolf, which I find just a bit ridiculous.
The heroine of Dancing on my Heart is called Alma, which means soul, in Spanish.
Midnight Cravings is a selection of short paranormal stories.
I was beginning to wonder if there was a paranormal theme to all the swag, but I couldn’t find any paranormal-related details for General Duty Nurse, so I decided there probably wasn’t. While I was looking, though, I came across a website which has links to old covers with nurses on them. They’re not all romances, but I thought they might be of interest to militaryspouse, at least.
Did I make the deadline? If I did, sign me up to WIN!
I knew I left the East Coast at the wrong time—I would have loved to see this exhibit. But I’d settle for swag. 🙂
Awesome gallery! I wish I lived closer so I could check it out. Harlequin sent its authors an awesome calendar with some of the best pre-1950 covers and I have it hanging up at work. I get a lot of smiles and chuckles. It’s great! I love seeing the progression of women’s roles and how societal change showed up in the covers. Thanks for the pics!
Gah, I would have loved to see this exhibit! After seeing the ad on the back of PW and flipping through your gallery, I’m having some serious East Coast envy!
Sign me up! 😀
I’d love the Harlequin swag! I’ve been toying with the idea of framing old romance cover art and redecorating my bedroom… this might inspire me!
oooh, goodies! I love goodies! I need goodies! Please???
Thank you so much for reopening the comments! These would go beautifully with my Nancy Drew girl detective notepads.
Hooray for romance swag! I was so bummed the comments were closed, but look~ my lucky commenting day.
I wonder if museums would pick this up as a traveling exhibit…
Ohhh, re-opened comments! Yeah and happy day for those of us who were on a forced extended family vacation…
And bummed that I won’t catch the exhibit. Wish I were closer to NYC to enjoy things like this.
Wow – I think I recognize at least one of those covers from my days of raiding mom’s yard sale finds. Please enter me in the drawing!
Eeee, I missed the comments before. I also missed the exhibit (if it’s the same one) when it was touring here (on three separate occasions I had arranged to go, only to have it fall through) so the online tour is very cool.
If it’s open to UK peeps, I’d love to be entered.
Cool beans, sign me up too please.
Sign me up too please!
Consider me enticed!
Great review, by the way!
Count me in! Thanks!
Assault of the Canadian Mountie By Gas Mask Man?!
I seriously love that caption. I love it almost as much as I love the old skool covers (my own favourite, found at a garage sale, was for “Cousin Mark” – and the title! please!).
dark69 – or with the lights on, whatever.
I love that vintage stuff! So many old book covers would be great to frame and hang, especially the pulpy books. I just can’t bring myself to rip the covers off …
What a fantastic exhibit! I can only hope that it might tour…overseas…to Australia. In my bathroom I have a collection of pulp fiction/romances chosen for the lurid covers.
Wold love to win me some swag…
I love vintage Harlequin-the covers and the stories. This looks like a fun exhibit that I would love to experience. Thanks for the review.
PICK ME! PICK ME! PICK ME! yep I am totally jumping up and down in my chair, I love swag!!!
states97 – I could totally state 97 reasons why I want that swag : )
Sign me up for swag, swag, swag!
The swag looks awesome. Thanks for the contest!
That’s an amazing shwag-haul!
Oh, heck, I wish I could go to the exhibit! Thanks for the photos, and the contest!
Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! 😉
love it!!!
Oooo…me, me please!
Gimme some stuff! I need something to help me get through the summer… I am the Youth Services Librarian (without the Master’s Degree) at a little branch library in a little town. This year, though, I have an ambitious plan to increase my teenage turnout and participation. Take a peek at my blog (follow the link above) to see what I mean. Not that I’m self-promoting or anything. 🙂
Anyway, I am going to need major stress-relief.
What a great exhibit. Harlequin got me hooked on romances years ago and have kept me sane in a household full of men.
VERY cool! I want it!
Beautiful art!
Oooh! *grabby hands*
Sounds like fun. Wish stuff like that happened closer to me.