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THE JEWISH MUSEUM PRESENTS
HELENA RUBINSTEIN: BEAUTY IS POWER
OCTOBER 31, 2014 - MARCH 22, 2015
First Museum Exhibition to Focus On The
Innovative Cosmetics Entrepreneur and Art Collector
New York, NY -
Beginning October 31, 2014, the Jewish Museum will
present Helena
Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power, the first museum
exhibition to explore the ideas, innovations, and
enduring influence of the legendary cosmetics
entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965). By the time
of her death, Rubinstein had risen from humble origins
in small-town Jewish Poland to become a global icon-the
head of a cosmetics empire extending across four
continents. She was the first modern self-made woman
magnate, an avatar of female entrepreneurship, and a
tastemaker in the worlds of art, fashion, and design.
On view through March 22, 2015, the
exhibition will explore how Helena Rubinstein - as a
businesswoman, arts patron, and one of the leading
collectors of African and Oceanic art of her time -
helped break down the status quo of taste by blurring
boundaries between commerce, art, fashion, beauty, and
design. Through works of art, photographs, and ephemera, Helena
Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power reveals
how Rubinstein's unique style and pioneering approaches
to business challenged conservative taste and heralded a
modern notion of beauty, democratized and accessible to
all.
The exhibition will reunite selections
from Rubinstein's famed art collection, dispersed in
1966, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse,
Elie Nadelman, and Joan Miró, among others, as well as
over thirty works from her peerless collection of
African and Oceanic art - one of the most important
private collections ever assembled. Other highlights
include Madame's (as she was universally called) beloved
miniature period rooms, jewelry, and clothing designed
by Cristóbal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Paul
Poiret. Rubinstein's savvy for self-promotion will on
view via portraits she commissioned from leading artists
of her time, from Marie Laurencin to Andy Warhol. Also
on display will be advertisements, cosmetics products,
and promotional materials related to her beauty
business.
Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power takes
its name from one of the first slogans Rubinstein
employed to promote her early Valaze cosmetic line.
'Beauty is Power,' announced the headline of a print
advertising campaign that first appeared in an
Australian newspaper in 1904. Rubinstein's dictum
suggested uncanny foresight. At the turn of the 20th
century, cosmetics were associated with the painted
faces of actresses and prostitutes, and were frowned
upon by the middle class. Rubinstein, a model of
independence and modernity, boldly confronted the
parochial constraints faced by women at the time by
advancing the notion that makeup could be a means of
asserting female self-expression and identity.
Rubinstein founded her first beauty salon
in Melbourne, Australia, in 1903, where she sold
exotic-sounding creams such as Valaze to an eager
clientele. Inspired by the tradition of European
literary salons, she conceived of her beauty salons as
intimate environments where progressive ideas were
exchanged under the guidance of a sophisticated
patroness. In the early years of the 20th century,
Rubinstein opened salons in London and Paris, and soon
brought her ideas of personal transformation and female
empowerment to the United States.
Her first New York salon opened in 1915,
in the wake of two revolutionary events there: the
Armory Show of avant-garde European art in 1913, and a
major rally for women's suffrage in 1911, where some
women marched wearing lip rouge as a badge of
emancipation. Rubinstein's salons embodied this alliance
of creativity and self-determination, using art and
fantasy to inspire her clientele to think independently.
Rubinstein pioneered the use of modernist
display at her salons and numerous homes, collaborating
with such artists, architects, and designers as Salvador
Dalí and interior designer David Hicks to showcase her
art and outlandish décor.
Helena Rubinstein rose improbably from
modest beginnings in Eastern Europe to become a
household name worldwide. By encouraging women to define
themselves as self-expressive individuals, she
contributed to their empowerment. Today we take such
subjectivity for granted, but the sense of individuality
and independence Rubinstein fostered was new and
profound in the early 20th century.
Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power is
organized by Mason Klein, Curator at the Jewish Museum,
with Rebecca Shaykin, Leon Levy Assistant Curator.
Exhibition Catalogue
In conjunction with the exhibition, the
Jewish Museum is publishing a 168-page catalogue by
Mason Klein, distributed by Yale University Press. Mr.
Klein concentrates on Helena Rubinstein as an art
collector and patron as well as a titan of business. He
explores her little-known role in integrating the notion
of style--reflecting in her wide-ranging tastes--within
the overarching culture and industry of beauty. In
tracing how her brand name became associated with the
woman herself, the book examines the various ways
Rubinstein controlled and defined her remarkable image.
Featuring 200 color and black-and-white illustrations,
the hardcover book will be available worldwide and at
the Jewish Museum's Cooper Shop for $50.00.
Support
Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is
Power is
made possible by The Jerome L. Greene Foundation.
Major support is also provided by the
Eugene M. and Emily Grant Family Foundation and The
David Berg Foundation. Additional generous support is
provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Roy
and Niuta Titus Foundation, and the Helena Rubinstein
Philanthropic Fund at The Miami Foundation.
The catalogue is made possible through
the Dorot Publication Fund and a gift from Helena
Rubinstein, L'Oréal Luxe.
About the Jewish Museum
Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue
and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum is one of the world's
preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and
Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, offering
intellectually engaging, educational, and provocative
exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and
backgrounds. The Museum was established in 1904, when
Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial objects to
The Jewish Theological Seminary as the core of a museum
collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of
over 30,000 works of art, artifacts, and broadcast media
reflecting global Jewish identity, and presents a
diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary
exhibitions.
The Jewish Museum is located at 1109
Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City. Museum hours
are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to
5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm.
Museum admission is $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior
citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and
under and Jewish Museum members. Admission is Pay What
You Wish on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm and free on
Saturdays. For information on the Jewish Museum, the
public may call 212.423.3200 or visit the website at
www.TheJewishMuseum.org
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