Kewpies and Beyond
Kewpies and Beyond
The World of Rose O'Neill
A self-made woman with no formal art training, Rose O’Neill (1875-1944) was not only hugely financially successful through her illustration work and the production of Kewpie dolls, but also through her exhibited drawings and sculpture in solo shows in Paris and New York. Kewpie made her a famous figure commercially, but few recognize her today as a serious artist and a political subversive who expressed sympathy for minorities, suffragettes, and victims of intolerance and who struggled with her own expression in a male-dominated field.
Shelley Armitage is Professor Emerita of English and American Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her numerous publications include Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place, Bones Incandescent: The Pajarito Journals of Peggy Pond Church,and John Held, Jr.: Illustrator of the Jazz Age.
