Earlier this summer we took a trip to the Rose O'Neill Museum in Springfield, Missouri and to the Bonniebrook Gallery, Museum, and Homestead in Branson, Missouri. I am a huge fan of Rose O'Neill and her enormous body of work as an artist.
Rose was the first woman cartoonist, a prolific illustrator creating more than 5,500 illustrations, creator of the Kewpie, a painter and sculptor, suffragist, and children's book author.
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| Noelle and I in front of Rose's beautiful artwork at the Rose O'Neill Museum in Springfield, Missouri. |
Kewpies first appeared in the Ladies Home Journal's Christmas issue of December, 1909. They were an instant hit! The public's desire for Kewipies lasted decades. The Kewpies also appeared in Woman's Home Companion and Good Housekeeping. Each issue that contained the Kewpie stories sold out as soon as they came off the press.
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| A Kewpie illustration at the Rose O'Neill Museum. |
At the Bonniebrook Museum, I purchased "The Adventures of the Kewpies" book. This book contains Rose's illustrated Kewpie stories from Good Housekeeping from 1914-1919. I love this book and hope Martha Haut Melton, the person who compiled the collection, puts together Rose's work from both Ladies Home Journal and Woman's Home Companion and publishes them as books as well. What a wonderful collection to own!!!
Rose created the Kewpie doll in 1914. Kewpies became a merchandising phenomenon surpassed only by Mickey Mouse.
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| Noelle and I in front of a large collection of Kewpie dolls at the Rose O'Neill Museum in Springfield, Missouri. |
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| More Kewpie merchandise at the Rose O'Neill Museum. |
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| Part of the collection of Kewpie serve-ware at the Rose O'Neill Museum. |
Although Rose was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, her family moved many times throughout her childhood. Her family eventually moved to the Ozark Mountains of Missouri while she was working as an illustrator in New York. When she went to visit them she fell in love with the beauty of the region and called it Bonniebrook. She settled there shortly thereafter in the 14 room house she had built for her family. She continued her work at Bonniebrook until her death in 1944 at the age of 69. The house is now the site of Bonniebrook Gallery, Museum, and Homestead.
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| A Kewpie lamp in the Bonniebrook House. |
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| Another Kewpie lamp. |
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| And another Kewpie lamp. So lovely! |
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| A collection of Kewpie felts that came with tobacco at the Bonniebrook House. Tobacco felts or flannels were often made into quilts. |
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| Kewpie artwork displayed at the Bonniebrook Museum. |
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| The dog flying in this illustration was called the Kewpie Doodle Dog inspired by the O'Neill's family dog. |
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| More Kewpie Doodle Dogs and a couple of pictures of the inspirational family dog at the Bonniebrook Museum. |
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| A beautiful Kewpie illustration featuring "Mer-Kewps" (kewpie mermaids). |
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| One of my favorite Rose O'Neill drawings. |
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| This Kewpie illustration shows the turkey dining with Kewpies and a little girl at Thanksgiving. |
I encourage everyone to visit the Rose O'Neill Museum and Bonniebrook. There is just so much to learn about Rose O'Neill. If you are interested in seeing more of her work visit my Pinterest board Kewpie Kewt.
Sources:
Brewster, Linda. Rose O'Neill: The Girl Who Loved to Draw. Boxing Day Books, 2009.
The Bonniebrook website: http://www.roseoneill.org/mainpage.html#/
