The Woman in Business by Alice Stephens

Stephens was a renowned artist who paved the way for many women after her. This painting shows the rising role women started to play in the workplace which was overlooked. She also shows women of different classes and even comments on the practice of child labor with the young girl working on the bottom right. 

As the demand for magazines rose, publishers needed women illustrators to make editorial illustrations that appealed to the female audience. This provided well-paying jobs for women to be creative and express themselves for the entertainment of other women. They were also wanted for book covers, posters, and even calendars and sometimes promised the same payment as a man in the year 1918.  Stephens' painting visualizes this sudden flood of women into the art/design world and into the world of business as a whole. 

One can guess that these changes were not always seen as a positive thing. Many men professional artists did not accept these illustrations as legitimate artwork and women struggled to get their work exhibited and seen as “real” art. Stephens, along with her colleagues, worked hard to get their work seen as professional art that came from a background of formal education and the embrace of their feminity.