Handkerchief

Peck & Peck

ca. 1930 · linen · Costume Institute

Textiles were often used in the 1920s and 1930s for propaganda purposes. This souvenir handkerchief is makes a case for the growing sentiment toward repealing Prohibition, which was in effect from 1920 to 1933. The design is meant to evoke imagery from the 1875 painting, "Spirit of 76," the famous Revolutionary War-themed work by Archibald MacNeal Willard (1836-1918). Unlike the Willard painting, here a female figure is included and the protagonists march on beer foam instead of on solid ground. The Peck and Peck signature is evidence that a well-established department store carried goods that pertained to a political issue.

Artist

Peck & Peck

Date

ca. 1930

Medium

linen

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of William G. Lord, 1963