Women in the the Visual Arts and Literature

Edith Wharton

15-cent Edith Wharton stamp
This 15-cent stamp was issued in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1980. The stamp was designed by Bradberry Thompson for the American Literary Arts Series and contains a 1905 photograph of Wharton.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) proved to be one of the most prominent female authors of the early twentieth century. Her short stories and novels often critiqued the social conventions of the upper class society to which she belonged. In 1920 she wrote one of her most celebrated novels, The Age of Innocence, which examined the lives of elite socialites in New York. In 1921 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize when she received the award for The Age of Innocence.