Artist Suffrage League
The Artist Suffrage League (ASL) was founded in 1907 by Mary Lowndes in order to equip suffragists on demonstrations[1] with expressive “[…] posters, banners and postcards […].“[2] It was thus an organisation that operated under a feminist agenda by providing the suffragists with illustrations that supported them in their objective to attain equal rights for women in the early 20th century.[3] In technical terms the ASL remained an unofficial organisation: “The ASL does not appear to have had a formal structure; there is no suggestion that it had a constitution and no membership lists survive, if ever existed.“[4] Amongst the artists of the ASL were Emily Ford, May H Barker, Dora Meeson Coates, Mary V. Wheelhouse.[5]
Example: Postcard
https://www.vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/FSB/id/481/rec/1
This postcard design was created by Mary Lowndes and ultimately published by the Artist Suffrage League. Its image alludes to the ‘Vaccination Exemption Act’ (1907)“[6] and thus emphasizes the obstacles and inequalities that women had to endure if they wanted to receive a vaccination while their husband was absent.[7] To paint postcards with social relevant imagery turned out to be important strategic measures that suffragists made use of. As Norman Watson describes: “[…] they were a potent new communication and propaganda tool.“[8]
Suffrage Atelier
The ASL had not been the only organisation that promoted suffragist sentiments through art. Women had dedicated themselves and their work to the foundation of the Suffrage Atelier.[9] The main difference between the Artist Suffrage League and the Suffrage Atelier can be found in their work ethic. The Suffrage Atelier charged for the material with which they provided the Women’s Social and Political Union[10], while the Artist Suffrage League worked for the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies exclusively and did so unremunerated.[11]
- ↑ Crawford, Elizabeth. The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. Psychology Press, 2001, p.16.
- ↑ Watson, N. J. "Text and imagery in suffrage propaganda'." Proceeds of Debating the Difference conference. 2007, p.10
- ↑ Crawford, Elizabeth. The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. Psychology Press, 2001, p.16.
- ↑ Ibid. p.16.
- ↑ Ibid. p.16.
- ↑ https://suffragepostcards.wordpress.com/tag/artists-suffrage-league/
- ↑ https://suffragepostcards.wordpress.com/tag/artists-suffrage-league/
- ↑ Watson, N. J. "Text and imagery in suffrage propaganda'." Proceeds of Debating the Difference conference. 2007, p.4.
- ↑ Ibid. p.10.
- ↑ https://www.artbiogs.co.uk/2/organizations/artists-suffrage-league
- ↑ Crawford, Elizabeth. The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. Psychology Press, 2001, p.16.