File:1829-Frances-Wright-goose-caricature.jpg

"A DownWright Gabbler, or a goose that deserves to be hissed --", an 1829 caricature which takes a hostile view of Frances Wright's public lectures. Many at the time considered the mere fact of a woman lecturing in public to be a shameless act of brazen impudence and effrontery in itself (regardless of the particular content of her lecture), and the fact that Wright preached radical views of slavery abolition and giving women the right to vote only increased the criticism she received.

The caricature depicts her with a goose's beak and eyes, wearing a somewhat unfashionably high-waisted and narrow-sleeved black dress, and reading from a book as she lectures. A young man with a somewhat vacant look, and a hand tucked into one side of his vest (à la Napoleon), patiently holds her bonnet. (This was probably intended to be interpreted as going a little bit beyond an ordinary daily act of chivalry into a more or less subserviently deferential role.)

Edited from image http://memory.loc.gov/master/pnp/cph/3b40000/3b48000/3b48500/3b48500u.tif at the Library of Congress website.

Bibliographic information found on the LoC site:

TITLE: A downright gabbler, or a goose that deserves to be hissed / Published by J[ames] Akin Philada.

CALL NUMBER: PGA - Akin--Downright gabbler ... (A size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC2-599 (color film copy slide) LC-USZ62-88788 (b&w film copy neg.)

SUMMARY: Caricature of Frances "Fanny" Wright, British-born activist, exponent of female suffrage, and outspoken critic of slavery. The title's reference to Wright as a "gabbler" probably alludes to her sensational American lecture tour of 1829. Wright wears a black dress and long white scarf, and has the head of a goose. She stands reading from a book and gesturing, before a speaker's table with candles, pitcher, glass, and books. Behind her stands a young man, holding her bonnet and looking on. Mrs. Kemble Wright's costume and the scene itself -- with its table, water, candles, and acolyte-like attendant -- seems intended to suggest an underlying parallel with liturgical rites.

MEDIUM: 1 print on wove paper: lithograph with watercolor; image 20 x 19.9 cm.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1829.

CREATOR: Akin, James, ca. 1773-1846, artist.

NOTES: Title appears as written on print. Quimby, no. 51. Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1829-2.

TOPICS:

• Wright, Frances.

FORMAT: Caricatures 1820-1830. Lithographs Hand-colored 1820-1830.

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID: (color film copy slide) cph 3b48500 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b48500 (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3b35204 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b35204