In many ways, the beauty magnate, philanthropist and style icon Helena Rubinstein set the bar for the modern career woman. A contemporary of Coco Chanel, whom she often tapped for fittings and custom designs, Rubinstein was part of a wave of 20th-century entrepreneurs who encouraged women to take control of their destinies through carefully curated self-invention. With the first major retrospective of her life, “Beauty Is Power,” opening today at the Jewish Museum, the immigrant from a Polish shtetl who went on to radically alter the beauty industry will finally receive the closer look she deserves.
The name of the exhibit, which comes from Rubinstein’s belief that women could transcend their humble stations in life through refinement and taste, explores the ways she fought anti-Semitism and adversity to build an empire. Along with vintage advertisements, products and promotional films, “Beauty Is Power” also showcases Rubinstein’s vision through works from her art collection by Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Marie Laurencin, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso (among many others) and clothing from her wardrobe designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli and Paul Poiret. Also on display is Rubinstein’s impressive array of “quarrel jewelry”: She was known to treat herself to lavish baubles after her frequent fights with her husband of 30 years, the journalist Edward William Titus.
Fleeing Krakow and an arranged marriage in 1902, Rubinstein migrated to Australia, where her pale and youthful Eastern European complexion was prized. Capitalizing on her own appearance and her mother’s coveted skin care recipe, Rubinstein launched her iconic Valaze face cream to great success. After sojourns in London and Paris, the outbreak of World War I prompted Rubinstein to relocate to New York, where she set up shop in direct competition with the WASP beauty doyenne Elizabeth Arden, a rivalry documented in detail in the 2009 documentary “The Powder and the Glory.” Rubinstein’s approach was to encourage women to embrace their uniqueness rather than trying to assimilate. “People like Lena Dunham, who are absolutely, radically changing what or who can be considered beautiful, are a legacy of Rubinstein,” says the show’s curator, Mason Klein. “It’s not face-lifts and Botox — just the opposite! It’s being beautiful because you are who you are.”
As the exhibition makes clear, Rubinstein embodied that principle to the hilt. One particularly compelling anecdote: In 1941, Rubinstein wanted to rent the penthouse apartment at 625 Park Avenue but was told the building didn’t allow Jews. So she promptly bought the building — and installed herself in the triplex at the top.
“Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power” is on view through March 22, 2015 at the Jewish Museum, 1105 Fifth Ave., thejewishmuseum.org.
