""I'm going to play with the little girl, mother"" Lot no. 4821
By Jessie Willcox Smith (American- 1863-1935)
1904 (Estimated)
Sight Size: 17.5" x 11.5" Frame: 25" x 19"
Pen & Wash on Paper
Signed Lower Right
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Story illustration for In the Closed Room by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York, 1904.
The published caption reads: "I'm going to play with the little girl, mother...you don't mind, do you?"
Frances Hodgson Burnett's story, In the Closed Room, follows Judith, a lonely and imaginative young girl who feels out of place in her mundane life. When her parents are hired as caretakers for a deserted mansion, Judith’s curiosity leads her to a mysterious locked room on the fourth floor. Inside, she encounters the ghostly presence of a girl who bears a striking resemblance to her Aunt Hester, who died at a young age. This otherworldly friendship provides Judith with an escape from her solitary existence, taking her on a journey of self-discovery and connection that transcends the boundaries of her everyday world.
Book included
Explore related art collections: Family / Motherhood / Children / Books / 1900s / Women Artists / $5,000 - $20,000
See all original artwork by Jessie Willcox Smith
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jessie Wilcox Smith never married, but throughout her long career, specialized in drawing and painting mothers, babies and children. Her training was acquired at the School of Design for Women, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins, and at the Drexel Institute under Howard Pyle.
She had begun as a kindergarten teacher but turned to an art career with the stimulus and assistance of Howard Pyle. Some of her best-known illustrations were for books: Little Women, Heidi, A book of Old Stories and Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. She also painted a great many illustrations for magazines such as Collier's and McClure's, and did nearly 200 covers for Good Housekeeping. For several years, she shared house and studio with two other Pyle students, Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley. Working in close proximity they also strongly influenced eachother's work as well as that of several other Pyle - school women. This relationship is told in The Red Rose Girls by Alice Carter. Smith painted and exhibited widely, revieving many awards, a Silver Metal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. She was also commissioned to paint many portraits of children.
Two other biographies, Jessie Wilcox Smith by S. Michael Schnessel, and Jessie Wilcox Smith American Illustrator by Edward D. Nudelman (who also contributed A bibliography) have been published.