My Strange Connection to Jessie Wilcox Smith

It's been a while since my last post.  I've been busy finishing projects and choosing which new ones I want to start.  That's the most difficult part of being a quilter.  There are so many wonderful designs and projects that it's very difficult to make a decision.  I want to do them all!  I'm trying, but there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do all that I'd like to do.


As I mentioned, I have been busy finishing projects.  One of the projects
 I finished is a sweet little panel quilt featuring a little curly-headed girl and some chickens.  Loved the panel!  Adored the little girl and her hens.  Was quite taken by the whole thing.

One day while I was out surfing the net I came across a photo of a magazine cover and to my pleasure, it was my little girl and her hens.  The magazine was from 1935 and I could just barely read the name "Jessie Wilcox Smith".  I thought it very curious that I should have made a panel quilt in the 21st century that featured an illustration from the early 20th century and I wanted to find out who Jessie Wilcox Smith was.

Well, what an interesting character she turned out to be.  Ms. Smith was one of the most prominent female illustrators in the United States during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was a prolific contributor to respected books and magazines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She illustrated stories and articles for clients such as Century, Collier's Weekly, Leslie's Weekly, Harper's, McClure's, Scribners, and the Ladies' Home Journal as well as Good Housekeeping.

Jessie Wilcox Smith in 1917 

Jessie grew up as a privileged daughter, attending private elementary schools, then at the age of sixteen she was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio, to finish her education. Her original training was towards teaching, and she gained a position teaching kindergarten in 1883. She then found that the physical demands of working with children too strenuous for her. Persuaded to join her cousin in art classes, Smith realized she had a talent for drawing. After graduating the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1888, Smith joined Ladies Home Journal the same year in the advertising department to support herself. 

As educational opportunity opened up to women in the later 19th century, women artists joined professional enterprises, and also founded their own art associations. But artwork by 'lady artists' was considered inferior. To help overcome that stereotype women became " increasingly vocal and confident " in promoting their work, as part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer "New Woman".   As more women entered the artistic community, publishers hired women to create illustrations which depicted the world through women's perspectives.

In 1915 she signed a contract with Good Housekeeping, for which she would produce monthly covers for the magazine for however long she wanted the position. She worked for them for over fifteen years, making herself one of the highest paid illustrators of the time; earning over $1,500 per cover.  She died May 3, 1935 in Philadelphia.  She was 71.

Here are a few of her more well-known illustrations.  You are sure to recognize them;

               

And now all these years later we are still drawing inspiration from her and her illustrations.  I wonder what she would think of her illustration making up the quilt I recently finished. 

You can see more photos of my Jessie Wilcox Smith panel quilt in my Etsy shop  Here's the link

https://www.etsy.com/listing/189273234/toddler-quilt-feeding-the-hens?ref=shop_home_active_1

Have a Lovely week!
Grammy

Be sure to visit my Etsy Shop