Bertha Margaret Boyé
Today is International Women's Day (part of March's Women's History Month), celebrated to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. Because in many places in the world gender inequality or abuse exist, it is time to remember that fighting for women's rights works and brings changes. Let's move back in time to 1911, when women didn't have voting rights!
Postcards and posters were extremely popular in the early 20th century. Commercial photographers sold postcards of suffrage protests, while the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s publishing company sold postcards with attractive propaganda, often designed by female artists. Bertha Boye created this beautiful painting for their 1911 California campaign, and this is probably the most popular poster produced during the American suffrage movement. Boye’s design, featuring a draped suffragist posed against the Golden Gate as the sun sets behind her, won first place in a contest sponsored by the College Equal Suffrage League in San Francisco. The image was later reproduced on cards, fliers, and publicity stamps.
On October 10, 1911, California became the sixth state where women could vote equally with men, nine years before the 19th Amendment enfranchised women nationally in the United States. The poster worked!
This masterpiece is a featured in our 2022 Desk Calendar, which you can now buy on -60% sale here. :) Today we have also a special discount for our Women Artists Notebook - check it here!
P.S. Let's celebrate Women's History Month with a special work featuring the MOST badass women in art history! Check it here!