Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists

Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists by Martha H Kennedy   255 pages

This book was published in partnership with the Library of Congress and is a presentation of women in American illustration from the late 19th into the 21st century.  The author focuses on forms that haven't received much attention before, including political cartoons, editorial illustrations and cover designs, to show off the contributions of many women whose work has been overlooked.  She breaks down the book into sections, so you read about women who did cover designs, advertising work, etc. The book focuses on 80 women who created these works and you learn about their stories, artistic training, their experiences of gender bias in the workplace and much more.

I found this book fascinating!  I knew about some of these women, but I didn't know about a lot of them ---- and being able to learn about them and their work in the context of the societal norms of their day was really interesting.