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This groundbreaking picture-led celebration of the work of over 100 named British artists, and a few more anonymous ones, reveals a wealth of women’s wit and insight spanning 250 years.
Based on an exhibition of the same name, held at the Cartoon Museum in 2017, this book edited by Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate demonstrates that women have always had a wicked sense of humour and a perceptive view of the world.
For many years, the world of cartoons and comics was seen as a male preserve. The reality is that women have been drawing and publishing cartoons for longer than most people realise. In the early 1760s, Mary Darly illustrated, wrote and published the first book on caricature drawing published in England, A Book of Caricaturas. In the nineteenth century, Britain’s first comic character, Ally Sloper, was developed by the actress and cartoonist Marie Duval (1847–1890). Cartoons were used by the suffragettes, and, during the Great War, artists such as Flora White and Agnes Richardson produced light-hearted propaganda comic postcards.
From the 1920s, a few women cartoonists began to appear regularly in newspapers. The practise was for artists to sign with their surname, so most readers were unaware of the cartoonist’s gender. In 1920, Mary Tourtel created Rupert Bear for the Daily Express, and nearly a hundred years later her character is still going strong. From the 1960s, feminism inspired cartoonists to question the roles assigned to them and address subjects such as patriarchy, equal rights, sexuality and child-rearing, previously unseen in cartoons. Over the last thirty years, women have come increasingly to the fore in comics, zines and particularly graphic novels.
This wide-ranging curation of women’s comics work includes prints, caricatures, joke, editorial and strip cartoons, postcards, comics, zines, graphic novels and digital comics, covering all genres and topics. It addresses the inclusion of art by women of underrepresented backgrounds.
Both the exhibition and book have been made possible by the generosity of Cath Tate Cards.
‘This is a reference work that should be read by anyone with an interest in UK comics and cartooning. It’s also often very funny, a celebration of some creators that will already be familiar to you and a good pointer to others whose work will be new to you.’ – woolamaloo.org.uk, Best of the Year 2018
‘As well as an excellent book to own, the gift-giving possibilities for the right-wing misogynist in your family must not be underestimated. This is a fine and important work, documenting a substantial and sustained body of excellent cartooning of all forms. There can be very few people who would be familiar with all the creators included, and this strong selection will point readers towards much to enjoy.’ – Pete Redrup, The Quietus
‘A monumental achievement… a deserved doffing of the cap to Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate for pulling it all together. A compelling case for you to go away and discover more about any cartoonist that intrigues you.’ – Simon Chadwick, Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain
‘This book celebrates the named work of over 100 British Artists, plus a few anonymous ones, and reveals a wealth of comic work spanning 250 years. Now that’s what we call a history lesson.’ – Actual Size Magazine
‘If there's a volume missing from the annals of British humour, it certainly is the volume The Inking Woman… The encyclopedic format has the benefit of each new page offering the unexpected and Marcia Mihotich's delightful design has clarity and elegance. It's an instructive and hugely entertaining work – hats off to Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate.’ – Michal Boncza, Morning Star
‘At last, we have a genuine, comprehensive account of the women who made—and who are making—comics history here in the UK… The Inking Woman offers an exhaustive and essential introduction to some of the most important figures. And for those who are looking to read comics by women for the first time, it’s a reminder that, arguably, the best graphic novels to come out of the UK in recent years have all been made by women.’ – Josh Franks, Ink Magazine
‘Embracing, engaging, lavishly illustrated, clearly and cleverly structured with a commendable sense of context.’ – Stephen Holland, Page 45
‘This is a wonderfully warm look at an important part of British comics history. I’d like to think that somewhere there is a teenage girl who will read Inking Woman and it will inspire her, to let her know she can create her own comics works too, and perhaps in a decade she’ll be citing Nicola and Cath’s work here as one of the starting points that got her going.’ – Joe Gordon, Forbidden Planet Blog
‘Indispensable and obligatory, The Inking Woman is an absolute triumph on every level.’ – Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier
‘Women are often asked ‘Why are there no women…painters? brain surgeons?’ Fill in the blank! Scratch the surface and you will find outstanding examples. The answer for cartoonists is in this seriously funny collection.’ – Diane Noomin
‘I can’t wait to get my hands on a finished copy.’ – The Bookseller, Non-Fiction Pick for March 2018