Did you know that the inventor of Kewpie dolls spent some of her adult life living in the Ozark region of Missouri? Our quest club recently read and learned about Rose O'Neill.
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Rose O'Neill
An Autobiography
Edited by Miriam Formanek-Brunell
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| American Illustrator by J.L.Wilkerson |
Rose was a highly talented woman who was born in 1874. Her parents loved the fine arts and passed along that passion to their children. Rose became a self-taught author and illustrator and won her first drawing contest when she was 13 years old. By her late teens, her professional career began. In 1909, her little elf-like cartoons first appeared in a comic strip. They were instantly popular with adults and children and took off like wildfire! Rose's Kewpies were the most widely-recognized cartoon characters until Mickey Mouse came along.
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| These fans from our aunt's collection show examples of Kewpie cartoons. |
A few years later, Kewpie dolls were patented...
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and they were soon followed by a variety of other merchandise. Since we have an aunt who knows a great deal about Kewpies, she was a wonderful resource! In fact, she kindly loaned me a box stuffed full of her books. She has been acquiring her extensive collection of dolls, figurines, books, puzzles, sun-catchers, etc. for about 50 years. Collectively, she has over 500 pieces! All figurines and dolls, tastefully displayed in curios, are fascinating to see. In fact, you notice something new each time you look!
O'Neill described her sweet little creations as "a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time."
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| Is he not the cutest?! |
Rose was the highest paid and most successful female illustrator in the United States at the time and enjoyed using her money to support her family. Toward the end of her life, her funds were depleted and the popularity of her beloved Kewpies had weakened. Still, she gifted us with her whimsical babies and the following philosophy,
"Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh, or at least to smile more than it does."