Anne, Suffragette Costume Design

Robert Indiana (1928 – 2018, American) “Anne” (1977) Lithograph, printed on Arches Paper by Fernand Mourlot, Paris; Edition: 150; Size: 24 in. x 20 in. (60.96 cm x 50.8 cm) Hand signed and numbered (XVII/XXVI) by the artist.

2020 is the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting the right to vote to women.

The image was created as a costume design for Anne as part of a series for “The Mother of Us All”, 1976 (an adaptation of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson’s 1947 opera inspired by Susan B. Anthony during the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Billed as “An American Pop Opera,” the play was first performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 1967.) After the curtain closed, Indiana memorialized his elaborate costume and set designs with a series of patriotic lithographs. From Gertrude Stein to Andrew Johnson, these prints portray a variety of suffragettes and American politicians modeling Indiana’s costume designs.