Lady with Handbag

The advent of the 20th century saw women becoming more self-assertive. The major pillars of social change were the right to education, employment and the vote. The Duchy of Baden became the first German state to allow women to study at universities in 1900. Women were given the vote in Germany in 1919 and acquired a completely new image through the suffragette movement. The few “upright” ladies who were to be seen smoking in public at the time did so solely as a form of protest. It was Alfred König who so marvellously managed to capture the spirit of this new age in 1911. The lady wearing the extravagant headgear and assertively confronting the bracing wind of age-old convention looks as though she is strolling around some top-notch resort like Heiligendamm, Hastings or Deauville. This elegant masterpiece of Meissen art nouveau visually captivates us all.