This Day in History!

On Wednesday, January 11, 1882, noted women’s rights advocate Kate Field (1838-1896) held a luncheon for Oscar Wilde when he was first in New York, at the beginning of his lecture tour on aestheticism. A couple of weeks later, this cartoon – characterizing the members of Field’s Co-operative Dress Association as “languishing maidens and sterile old girls” – appeared in an illustrated newspaper. Not only are Wilde and the women members of Field’s organization mocked, but the two women at the lower right in the cartoon may represent Kate Field and her partner Lilian Whiting (1847-1942). Field was a celebrity lecturer, who – like Oscar Wilde – provoked her own share of criticism.

Illustration in ​the Illustrated Police News (January 28, 1882). Gift of S. Marguerite Brenner.

Happy 161st birthday, Oscar Wilde! Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland on this day in 1854. In 1882, Wilde embarked on a lecture tour of Canada and the United States. His visit markedly influenced the American market. As Library Company Curator of Women’s History, Connie King wrote, “…almost immediately images of sunflowers abounded in decorative arts, and American aesthetes soon adopted Wilde’s slogan ‘art for art’s sake.’” 

An example of this can be seen in the above trade card, which advertises “The ‘Freshest’ AEsthetic style”. This trade card was featured in our 2014 exhibition, “That’s So Gay”, curated by Connie King. The online version of “That’s So Gay” was launched this fall, and can be found here: http://www.librarycompany.org/gayatlcp/

Read more about Oscar Wilde here:  http://www.librarycompany.org/gayatlcp/section5.html