Dream Blocks

Jessie Willcox Smith prints are filled with childhood: children reading, playing in gardens, building sand castles and listening to bedtime stories. Smith was one of the leading artists of the Golden Age of American illustration, and she illustrated more than sixty books. This collection gathers art prints of her storybook pictures for A Child's Garden of Verses, The Water-Babies and Mother Goose, along with magazine covers, calendars and portraits of children.

About Jessie Willcox Smith

Jessie Willcox Smith was born on 6 September 1863 in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. She first trained as a kindergarten teacher but found the work physically too hard. After a cousin persuaded her to attend an art lesson, she discovered her talent for drawing and studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins.

After graduating in 1888 she worked in the advertising department of the Ladies' Home Journal. In 1894 she joined Howard Pyle's first illustration class at the Drexel Institute, where she met Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley. The three women lived and worked together, first at the Red Rose Inn in Villanova and then at a shared house called Cogslea, and became known as "The Red Rose Girls".

Smith illustrated books by Louisa May Alcott, Longfellow and Robert Louis Stevenson, and drew for Century, Harper's, Scribner's and McClure's. She created every Good Housekeeping cover from December 1917 to 1933. She later built her own house and studio, Cogshill, nearby, and died there in her sleep in 1935.

Style and Subjects

Children are at the center of almost everything Smith painted. She shows them in quiet, everyday moments: reading by the fire, playing dress-up, picking flowers or snuggling with a parent. Her figures have soft, rounded forms, and her pictures often use clear outlines, gentle color and decorative patterns, set in gardens, nurseries and cozy interiors.

Her storybook illustrations add a touch of fantasy, from the underwater world of The Water-Babies to the nursery rhymes of Mother Goose. She also made portraits of children and many magazine covers, calendars and advertisements.

Famous Works

• Evangeline (1897). Illustrations for Longfellow's poem, made with Violet Oakley.
• Goldilocks and the Three Bowls (1900), Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford. A storybook picture from her early illustration years.
• A Child's Garden of Verses (1905). Her pictures for Robert Louis Stevenson's poems for children.
• 'Twas the Night before Christmas (1912), Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford. Illustrations for the much-loved Christmas poem.
• The Water-Babies (1916). Her series for Charles Kingsley's fairy tale, one of her best-known works.
• The Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose. Her nursery rhyme pictures, first published as a series in Good Housekeeping.
• Little Women (1923), Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford. Illustrations for Louisa May Alcott's novel.

Decorating with Jessie Willcox Smith Prints

Smith's illustrations are made for nurseries and children's bedrooms. Her soft colors, cozy scenes and storybook characters bring warmth to a reading nook or playroom, and work well in white or pastel frames.

Her pictures of mothers and children and her Christmas scenes also suit a family living room, a hallway or a guest room. For a library or book-lover's corner, a group of her book illustrations makes a charming gallery wall.

FAQ

What art movement was Jessie Willcox Smith part of?

Smith was a leading artist of the Golden Age of American illustration, around 1880 to 1920. She trained with Howard Pyle, the most influential illustration teacher of the time.

What is Jessie Willcox Smith's most famous work?

Her illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses and Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies are among her best known, along with her Mother Goose pictures and her many Good Housekeeping covers.

Where can I see her original artwork?

The Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford holds several of her original illustrations. Other works are at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the New Britain Museum of American Art.

How can you recognize a Jessie Willcox Smith illustration?

Look for children in tender, everyday moments, soft rounded figures, clear outlines and gentle, warm color. Gardens, firesides and cozy interiors are common settings.

Who were the Red Rose Girls?

The Red Rose Girls were three illustrators: Jessie Willcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley. They met in Howard Pyle's class and lived and worked together, first at the Red Rose Inn in Villanova and then at Cogslea in Philadelphia.

Related Artists

• Howard Pyle — her teacher at the Drexel Institute
• Violet Oakley — fellow Red Rose Girl and collaborator on Evangeline
• N. C. Wyeth — another of Howard Pyle's illustration students
• Maxfield Parrish — Philadelphia illustrator of the same Golden Age