A Female Suffrage Fancy

Item

Title

A Female Suffrage Fancy

Description

Composite of eight caricatures showing women dressing and interacting in society as men. In the top right, there's a picture of a man taking care of children because his wife has left. Below that, there's a drawing of women threatening men with guns in order to chase them away from the polls. At the very bottom, there's a drawing of women who are voting for the most handsome candidate. In the top middle, women are drawn in men's clothes, pulling a large wagon. In the very middle, a woman is dressed as a man, wearing a top hat and suit; everything around her is messy or broken. At the bottom left, there's a drawing of women, again dressed as men, excessively drinking. Above that, they're seen meeting political candidates and shaking hands. Lastly, at the top left, a man is sitting in a chair across from his wife and children.

This poster was created to depict women acting like their husbands, in order to support the anti-suffrage cause. These anti-suffragists believed that women that act like men would take advantage of that power and leave their husband and children behind. Posters such as these grew more vocal as the suffrage movement grew, and anti-suffrage artwork found its way into newspapers and magazines. Joseph Keppler, the artist, was a famous American caricaturist, born in Vienna, Austria. He was the founder of Puck, a magazine at the time, known for its witty cartoons. His work covered many political topics, including women's suffrage, and was seen by many, therefore impacting American's views on the suffrage movement.

Source:
National Endowment for the Arts. Creativity and Persistence: Art That Fueled the Fight for Women's Suffrage. NEA, 2020.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Brittanica. “Joseph Keppler.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., n.d. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Keppler.

Date

1880 July 14

Source

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Creator

Joseph Ferdinand Keppler

Identifier

Composite of eight caricatures showing women dressing and interacting in society as men; drinking; voting for handsome candidates; driving ugly men from the polls; and a domestic scene showing a man taking care of children.

Item sets

Women's Suffrage Posters

Site pages

Welcome

Characterizing Suffrage

Media

Suffrage fancy.jpg