Women Illustrators of the Golden Age

Mary Carolyn Waldrep

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780486131887
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

At the turn of the twentieth century, the demand for magazine and book illustrations was at an all-time high, offering women artists an unprecedented number of professional opportunities. This unique anthology features 120 color and black-and-white artworks by the Golden Age of Illustration's finest female illustrators, including Beatrix Potter, Kate Greenaway, and Jessie Willcox Smith.
A career in illustration represented an ideal opportunity for women in post-Victorian society. Every well-bred girl was schooled in the arts of sketching and drawing, and by working at home, a woman's modesty could remain uncompromised. Successful competition in a world dominated by male artists, however, called for determination as well as talent. This compilation celebrates the accomplishments of twenty-two female illustrators, including Elenore Abbott, Mabel Lucie Attwell, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Ruth Mary Hallock, Jessie Marion King, Dorothy Lathrop, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Margaret Winifred Tarrant, and others.

Marigold Garden, 1885

Kate Greenaway

1846–1901

 

One of the first women to earn a living as an illustrator, Kate Greenaway was born in London. Her father was a wood engraver, and she studied art at the National Art Training School, Heatherley’s School of Fine Art, and the Slade School. She did a great deal of magazine work in the 1870s, several books for the publishers, Griffith and Farran, as well as books, greeting cards, and calendars for Marcus Ward.

In 1877, her father showed her sketches and verses to Edmund Evans, who, in association with George Routledge, published them as Under the Window in time for Christmas, 1878. The book was an immediate success. Taking the past as her inspiration, Greenaway created a idealized vision of childhood that captured the imagination of the public. By the mid-1880s, she was at the height of her success and Greenaway dolls, wallpaper, fabrics, christening sets, fashions, and other items were manufactured at home in England and abroad.

Under the Window, 1879

Kate Greenaway’s Birthday Book, 1880

Kate Greenaway’s Birthday Book, 1880

Pied Piper of Hamelin, 1888

Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes, 1881

Little Ann and Other Poems, 1883

Language of Flowers, 1884

Language of Flowers, 1884

Under the Window, 1879

Marigold Garden, 1885

Marigold Garden, 1885

“The World,” Shorter Poems by Christina Rossetti, 1923

Florence Harrison

Active 1887–1937

Florence Harrison is best known for her work for the Scottish publishing firm of Blackie and Sons for whom she illustrated some fifty books. When she began her association with the firm, she incorporated elements of the Glasgow decorative style into her own Pre-Raphaelite work.

Harrison was the first woman to illustrate a commercial edition of Christina Rossetti’s work. Living in Chelsea in Londo...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Publisher’s Note
• Bibliography
• Table of Contents
• Kate Greenaway
• Florence Harrison
• Beatrix Potter
• Helen Stratton
• Elizabeth Shippen Green
• Jessie Willcox Smith
• Jessie Marion King
• Elenore Plaisted Abbott
• Mabel Lucie Attwell
• Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
• Ruth Mary Hallock
• Henriette Willebeek Le Mair
• Margaret Winifred Tarrant
• Margaret Evans Price
• Anne Anderson
• Clara M. Burd
• Blanche Fisher Wright
• Dorothy Pulis Lathrop
• Lois Lenski
• Virginia Frances Sterrett
• Eulalie Bachmann
• Fern Bisel Peat