Rose O’Neill: Artist & Suffragette
About the Exhibition
Rose O’Neill: Artist & Suffragette is a special permanent collection installation in support of the Norman Rockwell Museum’s mission to present the art of illustration and showcase the power of visual images to shape and reflect society. This exhibition is especially poignant at this moment since 2020 marks the one-hundredth anniversary since women were formally given the right to vote, a cause to which Rose O’Neill (1874-1944) was strongly devoted. Rose O’Neill worked tirelessly to promote the right of women to vote by taking part in protests and speaking to groups, and by creating protest signs, magazine illustrations, and postcards featuring her famous Kewpies.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1870. Although it guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” women were still denied voting rights. After passing through Congress on June 4, 1919 and receiving the necessary approval of three-fourths of the states on August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was officially ratified by the U.S. Secretary of State on August 26, 1920. The Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
This special exhibition is made possible through the generous donation of artwork by the Rose O’Neill Foundation, an organization created by her descendants. The artworks were donated to Norman Rockwell Museum in 2018 in an ongoing effort to preserve O’Neill’s legacy and inform the public of the life and work of one the most influential illustrators of the twentieth century.
About the Artist
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and raised in rural Nebraska, self-taught illustrator Rose O’Neill (1874-1944) broke new ground for women in the worlds of art and publishing, and helped to secure the right of women to vote.
O’Neill grew up in an artistic household where she practiced many different art forms. She first achieved success at the age of thirteen when she won a drawing prize from the Omaha World-Herald. Throughout her teenage years, O’Neill’s work appeared in additional regional newspapers, and at the age of nineteen moved to New York City to further her career.
Her work was soon published in the pages of Truth, Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and other magazines. A comic strip O’Neill wrote titled “The Old Subscriber Calls” was printed in the September 19, 1896 issue of Truth, notable for being the first published comic strip created by a woman. The following year she joined the staff of Puck, where she was the only woman working there until 1903.
In 1909 O’Neill created the popular characters the Kewpies. The elf-like figures were an instant success, and the public developed an insatiable demand for Kewpie dolls. The merchandising of Kewpies made O’Neill a millionaire.
O’Neill became very involved in the women’s suffrage movement beginning in 1915. She gave speeches, illustrated posters, and marched in parades until women received the right to vote in 1920.
Later in life, O’Neill studied in Europe and developed a style of surreal “monster” drawings. Her work was displayed in museums and galleries throughout Europe. In 1944, Rose O’Neill passed away and was buried at her beloved Bonniebrook home in the Ozark region of Missouri.
Images
Media
Rose O’Neill: Artist and Suffragette
Published: July 2020
Rose O’Neill
Student project for Project TANEY’s Voices of Our Youth contest
Published: March 2011
German Dolls:Rose O’Neill History & Kewpie Collection
Published: February 2020
Venue
Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA July 12, 2020 through September 2020
DIRECTIONS
Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Glendale Road Route 183
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-931-2221
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