Sea Girt, from the Beautiful Bathers series (N192) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

This chromolithograph, "Sea Girt," from the "Beautiful Bathers" series by Wm. S. Kimball & Co., presents a fashionable bathing beauty rendered with a striking emphasis on line and pattern. The composition is dominated by vertical stripes of the bather’s red and white bathing suit, contrasted against the horizontal band of sea and sky. This juxtaposition of lines creates a visual tension that animates the scene. The figure's form, constrained by the tight-fitting suit, suggests the societal constraints of the period, while the carefully arranged ribbons and bows hint at a playful artifice. The flatness of the chromolithographic printing flattens depth to emphasize surface design. The semiotic interplay between modesty and display, nature and artifice, captures the complex negotiation of feminine identity in the late 19th century.