|
Jessie Wilcox Smith was one of the most prolific and highly aclaimed women illustrators from the early 20th century. Althouigh she began her career later than most, she is regarded as the premier female American illustrator during the early 20th century. Certainly she is one of the most noted American illustrators addressing the world of the child. She is one of HBC's favorite illustrators. Most of her drawings were of children. Many of these are truly magical. Her illustrations are not the best for HBC's puposes. Her drraightmanship is superp, but the clothing is often not an important part of her drawings. Her illustrations often do not involve a detailed drawing of the children's clothes. Rather the child's may almost be hidden in a forest of bushes are under the covers. Her illistrations are, however, magical depictions of idealized, but not unrealistically protrayed childhood.
Jessie was the daughter of Charles Henry and Katherine De Witt Smith.
Jessie was born in Philadelphia during 1863. She exhibited no special talent or interest in drawing as a child.
She studied to be a kindergarten teacher and actually worked as teacher for several years. Incredibly, she came to her life's work by accident. While teaching school, her family persuaded her to take an art class, because a female relative was teaching it. [Kosor] After this introduction, she show so much talent and found she enjoyed drawing that she decided to take formal classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her teachers included Thomas Eakins. She graduated from the Academy in 1888 and began her drawing career.
Jessie Wilcox Smith was one of the most prolific and highly aclaimed women illustrators from the early 20th century. She was not immediately successful as an illustrator. She worked in the production department of The Ladies' Home Journal (1889), the year after she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She worked there for 5 years. Among other assignments, she designed advertisements. [Kosor] She wanted to do more and decided that she needed further instruction.
She enrolled as a student at Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences. She studied under Howard Pyle. Pyle influenced a generation of American illustratots. His major thesis was to carefully study a subject and to these paint or draw what one knows best to bring the subject alive. [Reed] Smith was one of his oldest students. Another important Pyle student was Frank Schoonover. It was at Drexel that she met Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley and they became life-long friends and associates . Smith obtained a commission through Pyle to illustrate an edition of Evangeline (1897) which she worlked on with Oakley. Together with another Pyle student they rented a studio. Green joined them later. [Plant]
Smith's career began to blossom after the turn of the century. Smith with her friends Green and Oakley leased an old inn on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Scribners Magazine published one of her drawings. She worked with Green on two calendars (1902) that received favorable notice and helped to establish their reputation as illustrators. the most important illustrations were in the "The Child", which showcased her ability to draw wonderful images of childhood. The images appeared in book the subsequent year (1903). Smith's career was perfectly timed. Advances in color printing and an expanding America magazine industry created a great demand for color illustrations. Smith's abilities combined with her experiences at the Ladies Home Journal and industries contacts through Pyle uniquely equipped her to produce and market her work. Smith during the 1910s sold illustrations to many of the important magazines of the early 20th century America: Century, Collier's Weekly, Ladies' Home Journal, Leslie's, Harper's, McClure's, Scribners, and Woman’s Home Companion. Her cover illustrations for Good House Keeping were particularly notable. She was as a result, probanly the most popular female illustrator diring the early 20th century. One of her projects was illustrating Frances Hodgson Burnett's "In A Closed Room" which appeared in McClure's (1904). As with Little Lord Fauntleroy, it was serialized before being published in book form.
Smith produced an incredible body of work. She was published in a variety of different formats. The book illustrations are perhaps best remembered today, but at the time the magazine illutrations were the most infkuential and widely circulated.
Advertisements: She created wonderful ads for Cream of Wheat, Campbell’s Soup, and Ivory Soap, and other products seeking to project a wholesome image. She also did ads for the Red Cross.
Articles: She illustrated expose articles like "While the Mother Works:
A Look at the Day Nurseries of New York" in Century (1902).
Books: She illustrated over 40 books. Some of her most beutiful illustrtins are in the Scribners Classic edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (Scribner, 1905) which especially showcased her talents for draeing yoing children. She illustrated many other outstanding children's books, including the classic The Water-Babies (1916). Other important works included: Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (Brown, 1915); James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (Houghton, 1910); and Johanna Spyri, Heidi (Mac Kay, 1922). Another wonderful production was Samuel McChord Crothers, The Children of Dickens. Many of the children's books she illustrated are still in print, in part because the illustrations appeal to adults for whom they provide a nostalgic look at early 20th century Ammerica.
Calendars: As mentioned above she did calendars. The ealy ones with Green helped establish her reputation.
Magazine Covers: Smith not only did book illustrators, but also contributed many magazine covers and illustrations. Her first illuistrations apperared in the famed monthly magazine for children--St. Nicholas. This was the same magazine in which Little Lord Fauntleroy first appeared as well as an early outlet for Norman Rockwell. She is most associated with Good Housekeeping. It was one of the major American mass-circulartion magazines and brought her work into millions of Americans homes every month for nearly two decades (1917-33). In all she did more than 200 covers for Good Housekeeping.
Plates: She produced series of stand-along drawings. One such series was "The Seven Ages of Childhood" appearing in The Ladies' Home Journal (1908-09).
Posters:
Portraits:
|
While Smith focused on children. Her drawings did not always provide detailed Smith was so prolific and her illustrations did not always provide drawings of their clothing. Her illustrations are not the best for HBC's puposes. Her draughtmanship is superb, but the clothing is often not an important part of her drawings. Her illustrations often do not involve a detailed drawing of the children's clothes. Rather the child's may almost be hidden in a forest of bushes are under the covers. Her illustrations were so numerous and widely dessiminated as well as immenmsly appealing that that they undoubtedly more than depicted children and children's clothes. One historian reports, "She painted the
universal child, but the dresses and playsuits they wore helped shape the dressing habits of a generation of children." [Plant] In particilar her illustrations in Good Housekeeping becaise they were so widely circulated, must have been very influetial.
From an early point after leaving Pyle, Smith's work began focusing on children, childhood, and motherhood. She made a concious decission to concentrate on children and their world. She is one of HBC's favorite illustrators. Most of her drawings are of mothers, babies, and children. Her best illustrations depict the ordinary, often private moments, usually of pre-school or very young children such as playing in the garden or with their toys at home. She also addressed the concerns of small children such as fear of the dark. She also illustrated books for children, both featuring drawings on children, but imaginative drawings for children and their mothers.
There is a wonderful charm about Wilcox's drawing, a magic I find difficult to describe. A Canadian admirer tells us, "Her illustrations are clearly influenced by the Art Nouveau style, especially illustrators like Maurice Denis and Vuillard. Her drawings are clear and concise, something new in illustrations for that time."
Smoth worked with both pen and the brush. She seemed most at ease, howver, working with charcoal, adding watercolor washes. She also sometimes varnished the drawing so as to add oil highlights. [Reed] Smith is one of those illustrators like Rockwell which seem to bridge ther gap between artist and illustrator. Some of her drawings seem almost like impresionist paintings.
Smith never married and had a family of her own. Given the tenderness with which she depicted children, these seems rather surprising.
Smith's eyesight deteriorated in her later years. She stopped doing the Good Housekeeping covers in 1933 beause of this and other health problems. She had always wanted to travel and finally visited Europe in 1933, but her deterioating health made it difficult for her to enjoy the expeience. She died peacefully in her sleep in 1935 at her Cogs Hill home in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia at age 72 years.
Many of Smith's drawings of children are truly magical. Perhaps somewhat idealized, her illustrations are realistic protrayals of early 20th century childhood--at leat the childhood of white, prospeous middleclass children. One of the key features of her illustrations is her ability to create an image from ther child's poit of view. In this she proved very influential among the following generation of illustrators. Her illustrations ranged from imaginative fairy tale illustrations to every day domestic scenes brought to life in a magical way. One historian writes, "Smith changed and enlarged the appreciation of children in American popular culture by her enormously sympathetic portrayals." [Reed]
Kosor, Susan. "Jessie Willcox Smith," The National Museum of American Illustration, website accessed July 25, 2002.
Nudelman, Edward. Jessie Willcox Smith: American Illustrator (Pelican, 1990).
Plant, Bud. "Jessie Wilcox Smith," Illustrated Books website accessed July 25, 2002..
Reed, Roger T. "Jessie Wilcox Smith", Atist's Biographies, website accessed July 25, 2002.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Artist pages:
[Return to the Main individual illustrator page]
[Chronology]
[Countries]
[Individuals]
[Styles]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Literary]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
