Jessie Willcox Smith Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
American, 1863-1935
But success as an illustrator wasn't immediate. She got a job in the production department of The Ladies Home Journal in 1889 and was still working there five years later when Howard Pyle began teaching illustration at Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences. Smith was accepted as a pupil in his first class. At 31, she was only 10 years younger than her teacher and one of his oldest students. Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley soon joined her in the class, and the three became lifelong friends. Smith's first commission through Pyle was for an 1897 edition of Evangeline that she illustrated with Oakley. The two joined another Pyle student to rent a studio, and Green later joined them there. In 1901, the three shared the lease on an old inn outside of Philadelphia. That's the same year as the illustration above from "The Last of the Fairy Wands" in the December issue of Scribners Magazine. She produced two calendars with Green for 1902 that helped establish the careers of both women. The most important was "The Child," which showcased some of her most sensitive renditions of children to date. The images were collected into a book the following year. One of Smith's three images from that book is above at right. The magazines and books of the day voraciously consumed as much color work as possible. Pyle's students were some of the best-prepared new entrants into the illustration market, and Pyle's name gave them access to the magazines' pages.to
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Artist: Jessie Willcox Smith
Mother and Child, Golden Age of Illustration
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Miami, FL
America's greatest female illustrator draws a heartwarming picture of a mother putting to bed her child. Motherly love towards their children is the artist's most iconic theme. This ...
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Early 1900s Art Nouveau Jessie Willcox Smith Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Illustration Board, Pen
Portrait of Seated Girl
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Charcoal on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
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Jessie Willcox Smith portrait drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Jessie Willcox Smith portrait drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Jessie Willcox Smith in charcoal, board, illustration board and more. Not every interior allows for large Jessie Willcox Smith portrait drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Jessie Willcox Smith portrait drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $22,000 and tops out at $115,000, while the average work can sell for $24,000.
Questions About Jessie Willcox Smith Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
- 1stDibs ExpertJanuary 10, 2025The most famous book that Jessie Willcox Smith illustrated is arguably Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. However, the American artist also produced illustrations for numerous other books. Among them were A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, The Seven Ages of Childhood by Carolyn Wells, The Rhymes of Real Children by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and An Old-Fashioned Girl, also by Louisa May Alcott. Explore a range of Jessie Willcox Smith art on 1stDibs.