Rose O’Neill’s Profile

Cartoonist Profile:

The cartoonist, Rose O’Neill was a self-taught artist who gained great success and wealth in her early stages of life. She was born in 1874, in a small town in Pennsylvania. O’Neill relocated with her family by covered wagon to rural Nebraska. She began drawing in her childhood and only at age of 13, she won a newspaper drawing contest in her adopted hometown of Omaha. O’Neill had a poor and unstable upbringing. She was, however, a very bright and talented artist. O’Neill became one of the most well known and highest paid female artists,“O’Neill quickly made a name for herself as a commercial illustrator, publishing in national magazines such as Life, Ladies’ Home Journal and Harper’s Monthly. Despite having no formal art training, at the age of 18, she had her drawings published in Midwest newspapers and magazines. O’Neill moved to New York City within the year, in hopes of pursuing an artistic career. O’Neill created a huge hit that received her a lot of attention and fortune, The Kewpie.  At 23, she became the first woman artist on staff at the leading humor magazine Puck. She was then earning top dollar for her work, making her one of the highest-paid illustrators in New York” (Heather Thomas). Along with that, O’Neill continued to devote her own creativity to creating art at the same time. She displayed her paintings and sculptures in New York and Paris. She wrote poetry and novels, and she has eight novels and several children’s books by her. O’Neill supported women’s issues as an activist as well. She created political cartoons, posters, and postcards in support of the cause while participating in suffrage marches. She openly supported clothing reform by wearing loose caftans without a corset.

Commitment to Women’s Suffrage:

Rose O’Neill was clearly a very well-known and successful artist. She became a very important part of the women’s suffrage movement. She was very committed to it and that clearly showed in all of the work that she created. O’Neill was considered a “Suffrage Artist” in the National Women’s Suffrage Association in New York City. This was something that O’Neill was very passionate about and believed was important. Also, it meant a lot more, especially coming from a female cartoonist. O’Neill being a woman herself first hand experienced the poor treatment and limitations women experience. So, pushing so much for it lets others know where she stands and how she feels about what is going on. Additionally, O’Neill knew her work was very popular at the time and a lot of people saw and respected her artwork, so if she spoke out about her feelings then her followers would respect that as well.

Later career:

In 1937, O’Neill moved to Bonniebrook, Missouri. There, she settled down with her friend, Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph. Before O’Neill died in 1944, she wrote an autobiography, that was published after her death. “Her autobiography, published many years after her death, reveals her personal philosophy: “Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or at least smile more than it does”(Carlynn Trout). This statement was evident in her comic strips and writings with her famous Kewpie Dolls.

Kewpie Dolls:

Rose O’Neill’s main wealth and fame came from her creation of the Kewpie doll. She obtained much fortune and was able to financially support her family back home. She was an activist for women’s issues and redefined and expanded the creative and financial potential of women artists at the time.  She created political cartoons, posters, and postcards for the cause. O’Neill started creating short illustrated stories in 1907 with cherubic characters that “did good deeds in a humorous way.” When “The Kewpies” made its debut in the Ladies’ Home Journal in 1909, it immediately became popular. O’Neill had the idea to make the Kewpie into a doll after seeing the comic strip’s incredible success. When Kewpie dolls first appeared in 1913, they were an instant hit, requiring factories in six different countries to fulfill orders. The Kewpie made O’Neill very wealthy and was the first novelty item to be sold all over the world. 

Due to all the success and popularity The Kewpie characters were receiving, O’Neill decided to create these characters into a doll, in 1913. Once, these dolls were created, right away they were in high demand. Everyone wanted them, worldwide, ” Kewpie dolls hit the shelves and immediately became a hit—it took factories in six different countries to fill orders”.

This was her famous “claim to fame”, the Kewpies, seen as character drawings in a women’s magazine in December 1909. Immediately after, The Kewpies became popular with both children and adults. Kewpies were, “both impish and kind and solved all kinds of problems in humorous ways”. O’Neill described them as “a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time”(Carlynn Trout).

O’Neill was asked to create illustrations for magazine and newspaper articles as well as advertisements for products like mayonnaise and Jell-O. From the late 1910s through the early 1940s, smart buyers were able to buy a wide range of items, including lapel pins, dolls (approximately five million were produced), and Kewpie table lamps.

 

Video about Rose O’Neill:

This video does an excellent job of digging into Rose O’Neill’s background and life. It really takes us on a journey through her life, including specific details and dates throughout the video. It also does an excellent job of incorporating images to help visualize. It helps us clearly understand her work, specifically her most famous work, Kewpie Dolls.

The style below is an example of another design and creation by Rose O’Neill. This shows variation and the diversity of work she was able to create in her lifetime.

Just by creating this pinkish, pale army, in total, earned her an estimated $1.4 million.

Comic Strip Profile

O’Neill produced a Kewpie comic strip for Sunday newspapers, which the McClure Syndicate distributed and ran from December 1917 to July 1918. These comics’ stories were originally published in Woman’s Home Companion. Due to the publication, the comic was published in several newspapers, including the Times-Picayune, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Sunday Tribune, and Detroit Sunday News.

A comic image I found created by O’Neill was an image of 3 Kewpie dolls marching together with a flag that says, “Vote for Women”. They are small naked babies with pink rosy cheeks playing the drums. O’Neill says that “To her they were ‘innocent, unspoiled little souls’, who ‘do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or at least smilemore than it does”(Kassia St Clair).

This was a very smart and clever thing for O’Neill to do, to add The Kewpies into her writings, because it drew people in and got their attention. O’Neill was very successful as an artist and writer, but by being a woman, she was limited to many things, such as voting in elections. Due to this, O’Neill wanted to make a change with the power and popularity she had amassed. With the help of her sister Callista, O’Neill put in a lot of effort to support the women’s suffragist movement. She drew many cartoons and posters with The Kewpie dolls featured, pushing for women’s rights. She also participated in protest parades and through her remarkable efforts, women were able to vote in 1920.

Posters and banners displayed her artwork. In one of the artwork pictures below shows The Kewpie babies carrying a flag that said, “VOTES FOR WOMEN!” while beating drums and wearing sashes. According to O’Neill, Kewpies turned into “a way to sell a different image of suffrage and who should support it—that it was something that was compatible with motherhood and nurturing.”

 

Man Enters Mountain Retreat of Mother of Kewpies,” Bisbee Daily Review (Bisbee, AZ), September 4, 1921, 

Rose O’Neill. Kewpies, 3 April 1937

Wikidata Profile

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3442397

The first thing you see when you visit Rose O’Neill’s Wikidata profile is a black and white photo of her. There’s a pretty photo of her signature behind that. Everything is arranged in an extremely orderly manner, making it very simple to follow. Not much is written about her; instead, it’s more of a table setting with straightforward questions and straightforward responses. This arrangement is great because it makes you aware of all the positive aspects of the subject without being overly detailed. There’s another part called “discussion” once you finish that. This section provides you with plenty of helpful links that go into specifics about O’Neill.

TheKewpie dolls Legacy in art and Toys:

Rose O’Neill’s fame went even further after she died. Recently in 2019, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She clearly didn’t earn this for nothing and it was all due to her push for Women’s rights and all of her efforts, “O’Neill’s induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame didn’t come easy. Scott said the Bonniebrook Historical Society, which maintains the museum and art gallery, nominated O’Neill at least twice over three years before she was selected”(Greta Cross).

Also, in 2022, O’Neill was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Industry Hall of Fame, and this year, 2023, she was inducted into the 2023 Toy Industry Hall of Fame.

This goes to show the lasting legacy and fame O’Neill has created for herself.

 

TimelineJS: Rose O’Neill

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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzk1E5NSV5FEl4dWlzp1EcNv4enTdUn27NP2v2mGOsPFUk3MG8UOR6G-t_XphevybCZS0UQUeqyFee/pubhtml

Description of Timeline:

My timeline provides an orderly visual depiction of Rose O’Neill’s life. This timeline depicts Rose’s childhood, her rise to fame, her use of her fortune, and the various accomplishments she made throughout her lifetime.  It organizes all of her achievements and life experiences in an easy way to follow along with. By doing this it made it easier for me to understand all that Rose O’Neill did in order of when it all happened. I was able to take all the information I learned about O’Neill and put it into order, which in the end was very satisfying to look at. I hope that my audience will gain an understanding of Rose O’Neill’s life in an easy way to follow along with as well as appreciate her for all that she did. She had a purpose for all she was doing to help and create a change. One important point of interest for users to consider is that Rose O’Neill was the first published female cartoonist in the United States. Another thing to consider is how she used and incorporated The Kewpie, her popular character, into other works that she created, like her novels and poems. Some gaps in the research were how she thought of the creation of the Kewpie comics as well as examples of the comics that she created. I was able to find a lot about the posters she created in support of women’s suffrage, but I would have liked to see more of her comics created. 

The differences between creating a long-form virtual exhibit and a visual timeline are vast. I find it much easier to create a virtual exhibit. It’s a more traditional and organized format that I’m used to, but creating timelines can be challenging. Adding images and using the sheet to insert all of our information is a different method than I am used to, making it difficult and uncomfortable to use.

Conclusion/Summary:

Rose O’Neill was undoubtedly a highly accomplished cartoonist who overcame many obstacles. She was a revolutionary artist who developed change. Her efforts to make a name for herself as a woman and to support other women are absolutely amazing. She created a legacy for herself and women. I really appreciate all she did for us women with her artwork and spreading ideas. I believe all of her efforts and success that she accomplished is something a lot of women can look up to, for hope and determination. I am so happy I was able to research and learn more about O’Neill and all she did throughout her life.

 

References:

“Frolic of the Mind: The Illustrious Life of Rose O’Neill.” Frolic of the Mind: The Illustrious Life of Rose O’Neill | Springfield Art Museum, MO – Official Website, www.sgfmuseum.org/227/Frolic-of-the-Mind. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Magazine, Smithsonian. “The Prolific Illustrator behind Kewpies Used Her Cartoons for Women’s Rights.” Smithsonian.Com, Smithsonian Institution, 15 Mar. 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/prolific-illustrator-behind-kewpies-used-her-cartoons-womens-rights-180968497/.

“Rose Cecil O’Neill.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Rose-Cecil-ONeill. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Rose O’Neill, Mother of the Kewpies – Nyhistory, www.nyhistory.org/blogs/rose-oneill-mother-of-the-kewpies. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Rose O’Neill’s Unexpected Feminist Icons and the Power of Pink, www.elledecoration.co.uk/decorating/a35550691/rose-oneill-pink-feminism/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

This Missouri Museum Celebrates Kewpie Doll Creator Rose O’Neill’s …, www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/2023/09/12/who-was-rose-oneill-bonniebrook-museum-promotes-legacy-of-artist-kewpie-doll-creator/70768507007/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Thomas, Heather. “Rose O’Neill: Artist, Activist, and Queen of Kewpies: Headlines & Heroes.” The Library of Congress, 24 Mar. 2020, blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2020/03/rose-oneill-artist-activist-and-queen-of-kewpies/.

Created by: Alexis Morton, second year, level 245 student