COVE

Kinuko Craft (January 3rd, 1940) had done the illustrations for Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market that had been featured in the "Ribald's Classics" section of Playboy magazine in 1973, Chicago, Illinois. Craft had done four illustrations by hand-painting them on canvas before being adjusted for the magazine pages themselves - the poem having been edited to fit the magazine. Her style was inspired from numerous artists, including those of the Pre-Raphaelites - the ways in which the women are tall with billowing hair and facial expressions most recognizable. In connection to The Feminine Mystique (1963), women weren't repressed, sexual beings but rather enjoyed it. The illustration depicted expresses that agency in women participating in the pleasure from the fruits - there's no shame (unrepentant nudity) nor is there passivity between figures (Laura grabbing onto a stray goblin). As much as the goblin men have offered their fruits, Laura takes and relishes in it - prompting other goblin men to join as she reaches out to them. Both sides (men and women) are sexual beings. They way Laura's depicted echoes the liberation of sex and as something women can freely do. Her nakedness isn't the main focus, nor is it overly glorified but by blatantly revealing herself, it alludes that she's within her own body - not for the same of others, but for herself. Laura, in Craft's illustration, is more human and fluid compared to the presumptions of chastity imposed on women; her allure comes from how unrepentant she looks. In the mimicry of giving into the "flesh", there's no shame on her face, echoing the greater demand of sexual acceptance within the US. This challenges the idea of internal perversion and bringing her sensuality outwards - embracing it in its entirety, especially as it's within a Playboy magazine. In catering to male audiences, having a woman illustrate another woman in a sexual manner reclaims the objectification and turns it on its head by forcing the audience to acknowledge that women themselves, can crave and desire without being subjected to passive roles.

Principle Source(s): Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. “Christina for the Connoisseur.” Christina Rossetti and Illustration: A Publishing History, Ohio University Press, 2002, pp. 241-243. | Sexual Revolution in the US during the 1960s |An appreciation of artist Kinuko Craft || Playboy Article