Margaret Harrison is a British artist known for her feminist pop artworks that critique censorship, gender roles, and war. Her 1971 solo show featured pieces like "He's Only A Bunny Boy But He's Quite Nice Really" and reimaginings of Captain America that transformed the character for the Vietnam War era. Harrison went on to create more Captain America art in 1997 and 2009 that commented on America's shifting global power and longings for the past. Her art blends pop culture icons with social and political commentary.

1. Censorship and Super Bodies: theCensorship and Super Bodies: the
Creative Odyssey of Margaret HarrisonCreative Odyssey of Margaret HarrisonCreative Odyssey of Margaret HarrisonCreative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison
Kim MunsonKim MunsonKim MunsonKim Munson
PCA/ACA 2011PCA/ACA 2011

2. Margaret Harrison (born Wakefield Yorkshire
Early InfluencesEarly Influences
Margaret Harrison (born Wakefield, Yorkshire,
England, 1940), shown here in 1971.
Buck Rogers 25th Century A.D.
Big Little Book, 1933; Author:
Phil Nolan. Artist: Lt. Dick
Calkins.
Joshua Reynolds PRA, Self-
portrait, c. 1780. Oil on panel. ©
Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby. Captain
America Comics #1 (March 1941)

3. Civil Rights & VietnamCivil Rights & Vietnam ComicsComics
Harrison founded the London Women's
Liberation Art Group in 1970.
1970 Miss World “Meat Market”
Alb H ll L d
R. Crumb. Cover drawing, Home Eric Stanton (1926-1999)
protest, Albert Hall, London
R. Crumb. Cover drawing, Home
Grown Funnies #2, 1972
Eric Stanton (1926 1999)
Cover of Stantoons #1
British Pop ArtBritish Pop Art
Allen Jones (1937- ) Table,
1969 . mixed media
Collection Stedelijk Museum
Richard Hamilton (1922- ).
Just What Is It that Makes
Today's Homes So Different,
So Appealing?, 1956. collage.
Kunsthalle Tübingen.

4. Harrison’s first solo exhibition:Harrison’s first solo exhibition:
Motif Gallery, London.Motif Gallery, London.
19711971
Margaret Harrison. He's Only A Bunny Boy But
He's Quite Nice Really, 1971-2010
Margaret Harrison. Women of the world unite you have nothing to
lose but cheesecake, 1969-2010
Margaret Harrison Take One Lemon, 1971

5. Captain America (1), 1971Captain America (1), 1971
T f tiTransformation
“In theory, the costume – as different
from the dull garb of our formerg
existence as we have become from
those abandoned selves – forms a
kind of magic screen onto which the
repressed narrative many berepressed narrative many be
projected.
No matter how well he or she hides
its traces, the secret narrative of
transformation, of rebirth from
the confines of the ordinary,
is given up by the costume ”is given up by the costume.
Michael Chabon
Margaret Harrison. Captain America,
1971-1997

6. Joe Simon, Jack Kirby.
Cover. Captain America
Comics #1 (March 1941).
Stan Lee & Gene ColanStan Lee & Gene Colan.
Captain America #125
(May, 1970) cover and
interior panels
“Captured… in Vietnam.”
Traditional 1940’s Cap or 1971 Vietnam
Era continuity?
Marvel avoids placing Cap in Vietnam.

7. Captain America (2), 1997Captain America (2), 1997
Rob Liefeld. Cover.
Captain America, Vol
2 #1 “Heroes2 . #1, Heroes
Reborn” November
1996.
More mature and stable Cap
fl t Cli t A i dreflects Clinton era America, and
the stylized graphic style of
Image Comics artist Rob
Liefeld.
Margaret Harrison. Captain America 2, 1997.
Courtesy Intersection for the Arts.

8. What's That Long RedWhat's That Long Redgg
Limp Wrinkly Thing You'reLimp Wrinkly Thing You're
Pulling OnPulling On, 2009., 2009.
A Superpower longs forA Superpower longs for
the Past?
Margaret Harrison. What's That Long Red Limp
Wrinkly Thing You're Pulling On, 2009. Courtesy
Intersection for the Arts.

9. RonRon GarneyGarney. Captain America. Captain America,,
“Heroes Return,” 1998, Cover“Heroes Return,” 1998, Cover
and interior splash.and interior splash.
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Woman and
Bicycle, 1952–53. Oil on canvas, 76 1/2 × 49 in.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;
© 2009 Th Will d K i F d ti /© 2009 The Willem de Kooning Foundation /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

10. A Superpower longs forA Superpower longs forp p gp p g
the Past?the Past?
American wars financed by loans fromAmerican wars financed by loans from
Asian countries.
Rise of Asian business as US declines.
A i f l hit l d iAsian female, white male dynamic
Superman-type red cape, sometimes
seen as a symbol of colonialism &
US domination, tattered and used as,
leash.
Cap looks longingly at a landmark 1950’s
era painting. US art, industry & culture
seemed unstoppable Character fromseemed unstoppable. Character from
“greatest generation” looking back,
humiliated by present.
Margaret Harrison. What's That Long Red Limp
Wrinkly Thing You're Pulling On, 2009. Courtesy
Intersection for the Arts.