The Independent Rose
She was an educated and informed, socially conscious, culturally critical, politically active New Woman who defied conventional expectations about gender roles in the life she lived and the work she created.
- Miriam Formanek-Brunell, from The Story of Rose O'Neill: An Autobiography
Rose O'Neill was very determined to sell her art but she was also very courageous because she went to New York at the age of 19 and she went alone. She stayed with The Sisters of St. Regis in New York, and they helped her publish her illustrations. Her determination helped her become one of the few working female illustrators. However few people knew that O'Neill was a woman because she was forced to conceal her gender.
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People loved her art so much they had to notice her. Her fine art was exhibited in 1906 and 1912. In 1917, she became the first female selected for the Society of Illustrators in New York City. O'Neill had a highly successful show at the Galerie Devambez in 1921, where she was elected to the Society des Beaux Arts.
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O'Neill lived her life on her own terms. She fought for the things she wanted and refused to just do what everybody else did. You can see this translated in the heroines of her novels, who Helen Goodman described as, "able minded, confident, modern, and strong willed."
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