Biography
Faith Burrows (1904-1997) was an American cartoonist, most prominent during the Jazz Age (1919-1942), depicting flapper fashion and lifestyle through her popular series, Ritzy Rosey, Flapper Filosofy, and Beautyettes. Burrows drew inspiration from her own life, as she was an attractive blonde woman and self-proclaimed flapper type. She engaged in American youth culture in the 1920s fostered by an economic boom after WWI. Trendy jazz nightlife, Henry Ford’s automobile innovations, and Margaret Sanger’s new contraceptive pills were hallmarks of the era. Burrows marketed the flapper lifestyle through illustration, while taking inspiration from authors and designers like American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and French designer Coco Chanel, who shaped the flapper persona.
Burrows was born in Dayton, Ohio and lived there most of her life. She attended and graduated from Steele High School in Dayton in 1922. While there is no information on her artistic training, she most likely was able to pursue illustration because women could find work after the WWI drafts and the demand for print media in conjunction with the economic boom. One of her first works was Ritzy Rosey, a daily one-panel cartoon which ran in newspapers from 1927 to 1928 for King Features Syndicate. The panel featured an illustration of a flapper woman often accompanied by an amusing caption regarding etiquette or social behaviors.
The flapper was a self-governing woman who rejected previous Victorian era morals by going to social events without male chaperons, drinking and smoking publicly, and sporting progressive French fashions. In the late 1910s in France, the term la garçonne was used to describe women who wore the new androgynous designs by designers such as Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. The slang term stems from the French word for boy, le garçon, but adds the feminine article and feminine ending to the noun to refer to androgynous women. Early 20th century androgyny meant linear and looser silhouettes, shorter dresses, and knit sportswear.
La garçonne in France became the flapper in the U.S. due to women’s involvement in the workforce during WWI and jazz nightlife. As flapper fashion was popularized, stories of these progressive women more commonly appeared in magazines and novels. Most notably, the story of the flapper was told by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his Flappers and Philosophers short story series for The Saturday Evening Post, which led to the famous The Great Gatsby novel in 1925.
A few years following F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Flappers and Philosophers, Burrows illustrated Flapper Filosofy (1929-1936), first seen in the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1929 and distributed by King Features Syndicate. The comic had a similar layout to Ritzy Rosey, featuring one panel with a woman and a caption. One panel portrays a woman that is independent in her own living room enjoying a cocktail. She sits on a stylish sofa with floral patterns and tassels alongside a cat with a large bow on the collar. The woman also wears a small black dress, potentially inspired by Coco Chanel’s little black dress design, and a bob haircut. The drawing is titled: “While her old grandmother is becoming spiritually prepared the modern daughter is becoming spiritually preserved.” The caption is a satiric commentary on the differences between the previously conservative female generation and the radical roaring 20s. It is implied that the grandmother spiritually prepares herself to pass away while the daughter is “spiritually preserved” due to drinking many cocktails. Women depicted drinking was viewed as unladylike, so this was just one way the flapper pushed boundaries. Overall, this woman represents quintessential flapper fashion and a liberated lifestyle.
Burrows’ next series, The Beautyettes, began in 1932 and this is when she changed her pen name to Aldine Swank. The new pen name was inspired by her husband’s name, whom she met a few years prior, Jerrold A. Swank. His middle name is believed to be Aldine and Burrows took his name, Swank, in marriage. The Beautyettes, was the last comical series on the flapper. After marriage she did not work for a period of time while her husband was a radio broadcasting engineer. In the late 1930s, he started his own company, Swank Films Inc., where Burrows served as vice president.
In her later years, Burrows resided in a long-term care facility in Ohio after her husband passed in 1984. Burrows died in 1997 at ninety-three years old.
Faith Burrows was a leader in creating the image of the flapper woman and publicized the flapper lifestyle through humorous drawings and captions. This work took courage due to the controversy of the topic but resulted in freedom for women for generations to come.
Essay by Halle Davies. The Walt Reed Distinguished Intern at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Davies is currently studying art history at Regent's University in London, England. She also participated in the gap year program at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London.
Illustrations by Faith Burrows
Additional Resources
Bibliography
Campbell Coyle, Heather. Jazz Age Illustration. Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum, 2024
“Coco Chanel.” Encyclopedia Britannica. June 17, 2025. Coco Chanel | Biography, Fashion, Designs, Perfume, & Facts | Britannica
DiEleuterio, Rachael & Campbell Coyle, Heather. “Illustrating Flappers in the Jazz Age.” Delaware Art Museum, October 1, 2024. Illustrating Flappers in the Jazz Age - Delaware Art Museum
“Faith Burrows.” Delaware Art Museum. Accessed: June 18 2025. Works – Faith Burrows – Artists – Delaware Art Museum
“Flappers.” HISTORY. May 28, 2025. Flappers - 1920s, Definition & Dress | HISTORY
“Flapper Philosophy: Modern Women in the Jazz Age.” Delaware Art Museum. Accessed: June 18 2025. Sources and Further Reading · Flapper Philosophy: Modern Women in the Jazz Age · Delaware Art Museum, Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives Digital Exhibitions
Jay, Alex. “Faith Burrows.” Comic Strip History. April 18, 2017. Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Faith Burrows - Stripper’s Guide to Newspaper Comics History
McKenna, Amy. “flapper.” Encyclopedia Britannica. December 20, 2024. Roaring Twenties | Name Origin, Music, History, & Facts | Britannica
Spivack, Emily. “The History of the Flapper, Part 5: Who Was Behind the Fashions?” Smithsonian Magazine, April 5, 2013. The History of the Flapper, Part 5: Who Was Behind the Fashions?
