The American Woman, August 1919

A woman in a red cloche hat and draped red fabric gazes directly outward in this cover illustration by Beryl Morse Greene. The composition emphasizes fashionable accessories and the relaxed pose typical of 1920s portraiture. Published during the final months before the Nineteenth Amendment's ratification, The American Woman was a general-interest magazine for middle-class readers. At five cents per copy, it competed with dozens of similar periodicals by combining fiction, advice columns, and fashion features. Greene's portrait exemplifies the rotogravure cover style of the era—soft-focus illustration emphasizing elegance and contemporary style over narrative drama, distinguishing lifestyle magazines from the action-packed pulp genres emerging in specialized adventure publications.