Essay On Rosie The Riveter

Rosie the Riveter is one of the most famous icons in American history. She stands as a powerful reminder of the American women’s essential contributions to victory during World War II. Rosie was not an actual person, but a symbol for millions of American women who stepped up to help during the war effort, challenging the traditional female role as homemaker. The Rosie character was used in many war marketing efforts including an oil painting done by the famous painter, Norman Rockwell, called “Rosie the Riveter.” His painting was distributed to millions via the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Memorial Day in 1943 (History.com Staff). Norman Rockwell’s masculine depiction of Rosie the Riveter challenges gender roles while supporting the

popular political position of America during World War II.
Before World War II the traditional role for a middle-class American woman was to be a homemaker.

A traditional woman’s normal tasks consisted of raising the children, cleaning the home, and preparing each meal (Ciulla 508). Many husbands would not have tolerated their wives getting a job during the depression, but patriotic duty during the war provided the justification for temporarily transcending these traditional roles (Gluck 156). When the war came along the men went to war leaving behind many jobs on US soil that needed to be filled. This necessitated a dramatic reassessment of a woman’s role in American life (Honey 1).

The government started marketing these jobs to women. The patriotic need for women to enter the workforce was stressed through posters, photographs, music, movies, newspapers, and articles. Approximately six million women answered the call to enter the workforce. Between 1940 and 1945 women in the workforce went from 27% to 37% (History.com Staff). Women began to embrace and make changes in their work and family roles that substantially challenged conventional notions of femininity (Anderson

186).
Among the marketing pieces from the Rosie the Riveter campaign was Norman Rockwell’s oil painting of the character. This piece was printed on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, and distributed on Memorial Day in 1943. Norman’s version of Rosie was quite a bit less attractive than it’s predecessor, a poster of Rosie the Riveter done for the Westinghouse Power Company. Rockwell’s model for this piece was much more feminine than he painted her. He modeled the body of his Rosie after the body of Michelangelo's painting of the very muscular prophet Isaiah, which is displayed in the Sistine Chapel . Her body is more voluptuous than Isaiah’s build. However, her pose, arms, and legs match the prophet’s. He later phoned his model and apologized for making her so large. Rockwell’s Rosie appears to be on her lunch break, eating a ham sandwich and clutching her lunch pale in a strong claw-like manner. She’s wearing a pair of men’s overalls, a work shirt and a pair of men’s loafers. Her riveter sits upon her lap and we can see that it is a heavy piece of machinery. Her arms are painted in such a way that shows she is strong enough to handle lifting the heavy riveter. She wears a masculine double thick leather band for her watch. Rockwell painted the image of her so that the viewer is looking slightly up at her which makes her appear even more significant. Her pose with her head held high demonstrates pride in her work. Many women were forced to give up their jobs to the returning servicemen and go back to being a homemaker. This version of Rosie shows that she is proud of the effort she is making towards the war, and she looks confident in her ability to do it as the riveter rests nonchalantly on her lap. Rockwell, like others, geared more toward paintings that covered up the female body. This painting showcases Rosie’s potential for demanding physical work. With Rosie depicted in this way, there is no room for misinterpretation, flirtation, or artifice (Honey 479). Painting a woman in such a masculine manner, doing a “man’s job,” was very avant-garde for the time frame and challenged tradition when it came to how women were portrayed. Though pop-art is said to have begun in the late 1950’s in the United States, one could argue that Rockwell’s, “Rosie the Riveter” was a precursor to that style, since pop art means a return to popular culture and reflected a return to the realities of people’s everyday lives, which Rockwell was known for. Pop art was a rebellion of sorts against the abstract expressionists, which was a movement after World War II. However, it seems that Rockwell had been using elements of pop art in his work all along.
To further demonstrate the strength of his Rosie, Rockwell thinly applied the paint to his canvas which shows a lot of the canvas’ texture. Revealing so much texture from the canvas may also have been done to symbolize that Rosie is rough and tough enough to do this work and that she has the necessary grit to get the job done. It also helps Rockwell achieve the look of real denim coveralls without having to paint the texture of it.
Although this is the most masculine depiction of Rosie the Riveter, there are some people who argue that this version still demonstrates elements of femininity. Her figure was painted curvier than Rockwell’s inspiration, the prophet Isaiah. In her pocket, one will observe a handkerchief and a makeup compact with gold trim poking out. This may imply that she had just put on her makeup. She has rosy cheeks and reddish lips. Some think that this is from makeup rather than exertion. However, one might wonder why anyone would put lipstick on right before eating their sandwich. There is also a grace and femininity to the way her upper body is posed. She adorns a strap of patriotic pins. If she had been in a traditional outfit like a skirt and blouse she would have likely had a necklace on. This strap of pins may act as a replacement for any jewelry, which would have been too dangerous to wear to work.
Further, women were often portrayed in a maternal light.

Rockwell displays Rosie cradling her riveter instead of a child, but it has been said that the pose of Rockwell’s haloed Rosie cradling her riveter resembles the painting from the Renaissance called “Madonna and Child with two Angels,” by Fra Filippo Lippi. Rosie’s face mask sitting on top of her head could also symbolize a traditional headdress like the Madonna may have worn. Just as Rockwell painted Rosie cradling her hydraulic gun, so did propagandists portray production workers in a maternal light. Women who were in the workforce prior to World War II were viewed as sexual sirens so in order to accommodate the recruitment campaign, the government made an effort to portray women as temporary workers whose families came first, and they found congenial nuances in motherhood (Honey 481). Rockwell’s Rosie appears to be wearing a Blue Star Flag pin. This pin implies that she has a son in the war, which is another way to portray her in a maternal or feminine

light.
Norman Rockwell’s painting of Rosie the Riveter has a lot to say about it’s time frame. Not only does this painting challenge the norms for women but it also shows support of the popular political position of America during World War II. During 1943 the United States was in the middle of a war with the Germany. Posed before a waving American flag and dressed in red, white, and blue, Rosie proudly displays those patriotic badges across the bib of her overalls. A tattered copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf lies underfoot. Norman Rockwell positioned his Rosie resting during her lunch break, calmly eating a sandwich while stomping on a copy of Mein Kampf with author's name, Adolf Hitler, and Nazi swastika visible under the title. This painting was meant to reassure the American public that women could get the job done on American soil while helping the soldiers off at war defeat the Axis powers of Germany (Honey 479).