Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935) achieved widespread success as an illustrator of children's books and popular magazines. She was born in Philadelphia on September 6, 1863 to Charles Henry Smith and Katherine Dewitt Smith. Her parents had moved to Philadelphia from New York just prior to her birth. She was the youngest daughter of a family that, while not wealthy, was well-off financially. Her father was an investment banker and her mother a housewife. Smith attended private schools in Philadelphia prior to being sent to Cincinnati as a teenager to finish her studies. In Cincinnati, she lived with cousins and prepared to work as a kindergarten teacher.

A career as a kindergarten teacher proved unsatisfactory; Smith pursued this vocation for about one year before giving it up due to back trouble. She was a tall woman for whom bending over to interact with children was problematic. Also, she discovered her artistic talent about this time by accident. Reportedly, Smith displayed no interest in art as a child, and did not grow up in an artistic family. She was asked to sit in on an art lesson given by her cousin to a young gentleman. The assignment, which Smith completed admirably, was to draw a lamp. She later stated, "that lamp was the turning point in my life, and has shed its light before me ever since. I feel profoundly grateful to it still" (Miller and Whitney 1930, 69). Her talent recognized, Smith returned to Philadelphia to study art.

Despite the rigid, Victorian social climate of Philadelphia, opportunities were available for women to pursue artistic interests. In 1885, Smith entered the School of Design for Women in Philadelphia. Here women were encouraged to pursue traditional crafts such as needlework. Seeking more rigorous training, Smith left to enroll in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she studied with Thomas Anshute and Thomas Eakins. While at the Academy, her first published illustration, Three Little Maidens All in a Row, appeared in the May 1888 issue of the children's magazine, St. Nicholas. The same year, she graduated from the Academy and accepted a position in the advertising department of the Ladies Home Journal.

To understand the next phase of Smith's development as an artist, it is helpful to explore the social and artistic atmosphere of the time. Periodicals, relatively inexpensive to produce, were a popular form of entertainment for an increasingly literate public. It was becoming possible to produce color illustrations for books and magazines using a four-tone process (Elzea 1991). Illustrators were in demand and were able to command substantial fees. For a woman, art was seen as an extension of her domestic role; as such it was encouraged but not taken seriously. However, a woman with artistic talent who needed to support herself could often find employment as an illustrator (Goodman 1987). Smith was destined to be one of the most successful of these enterprising women.

In 1894 Smith enrolled in Saturday afternoon classes taught at the Drexel Institute by the accomplished illustrator Howard Pyle. Pyle, committed to promoting the professionalism of illustration, would have a positive influence on Smith. In a 1917 interview for Good Housekeeping she stated, "He seemed to wipe away all the cobwebs and confusion that so beset the path of the art-student, and with his inspiration and practical help, I was soon in the full tide of book illustration" (Mitchell 1979, 4). At Drexel, Smith met two fellow aspiring artists who would become life-long friends, Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley. With Pyle's encouragement and through his influence, Smith and Oakley illustrated Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1897. For Smith, this was an entry into the competitive world of illustration. After completing their studies at Drexel, the three friends shared a studio and apartment at 1523 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, where Smith continued to develop her publishing and artistic contacts.

By the early 1900's, the trio were tiring of city life. They spent the summer of 1900 at Bryn Mawr, and shortly thereafter leased the Red Rose Inn in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Others, including Green's parents, her friend Henrietta Cozens, and Oakley's mother joined the household. Cozens was not an artist; she managed the house and formal gardens. This tranquil and genteel country setting was the antithesis of the stereotypical bohemian artistic colony. Here, in 1903, Smith and Green collaborated on a calendar, The Child, later published as The Book of the Child. In general, however, the women pursued separate artistic interests. They were described as "a band of independent partners in talent who have no time for rivalries and would admit none if they had" (Morris 1902, 201).

These comfortable living and working arrangements would change in 1904 when a new owner of the Red Rose evicted the women, apparently because he did not want to rent to artists. A benefactor built them a new home in the countryside near Philadelphia which they christened Cogslea, after the initials of the household's principal members. In 1911, Green married, precipitating another transition in Smith's life. She purchased land near-by from the same benefactor and built a new home and studio, named Cogshill. Cozens and several family members joined her. Smith would live and work there until her death in 1935.

Throughout her career, Smith never lacked work. She illustrated over 40 children's books including numerous compilations of stories such as A Child's Book of Old Verses (1910) and A Child's Book of Stories (1911) along with classics such as Little Women (1915) and Heidi (1922). Illustrations for two of George MacDonald's fantasy works were done by Smith as well: At The Back of The North Wind (1919) and The Princess and the Goblin (1920). Her best work is generally acknowledged to be Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1916). She produced thirteen color drawings in charcoal, watercolor and oil, giving the water-babies an enchanting sense of reality that compliments this classic text. Having willed twelve of the original paintings to the Library of Congress, it is speculated that Smith considered this work to be the highlight of her career (Ison 1982).

A Child's Book of Stories. New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1934. pg. 380

Smith's artistic method was considered conventional. She used models, but preferred to work with the children of her friends rather than professionals. The composition of her early work was described as "Japanesque" in the use of planes and broad flat masses (Morris 1902). Henry Pitz described her technique as having "considerable reliance upon the defining line, the tendency toward simple, flattened tones and colors, the general use of simple and conventional lighting" (1969, 179). She worked in a variety of mediums including gouache, oil, charcoal, and watercolor, and most of her illustrations were printed in color. Her early work was recognized in 1903 with the Mary Smith prize for works exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts; other awards would follow.

Smith was also a prolific illustrator of popular magazines, most notably Good Housekeeping, where she accomplished the remarkable feat of illustrating every cover from 1918-1932. Here, as in her work for children's books, her subject matter was invariably children and mothers. She portrayed an ideal image of the child that many have criticized as unrealistic and sentimental. One can only speculate as to why Smith restricted her content in such a manner. She never married but had a lifelong love of children, reflected in her early choice of career as a kindergarten teacher. Possibly her work reflected her own unrealized desire for children. Michael Schnessel (1977) notes that her scenes of motherly love were undeniably sad. One wonders about her own experience of maternal love. Smith was a very shy and private person, and little is written of her relationship with her mother. Schnessel also remarks that there are no published accounts of her parent's deaths; they did not make their home with Smith as did Green's parents and Oakley's mother. In the end, perhaps Smith's subject matter was simply a practical choice dictated by the expectations of a society that continued to see children as a woman's primary focus. A friend, Carolyn Haywood (1984), comments that Smith never considered herself a great artist but took her work commitments seriously. She also states that Smith was not sentimental about children but sought to portray their charming and endearing qualities.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of Verses. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1905. p.116

Smith's work was well-received by the public. Her work was often re-issued. She supplemented her income by painting portraits of the children of Philadelphia's elite; she increased her activity in this area towards the end of her career. Her financial wealth allowed her to live an independent, self-sufficient life which was extraordinary for her time. While not a feminist, she was an inspiration to women who sought to make their way in the world. She was known to be a generous woman who left legacies to artist friends (Haywood , 1984). In 1933, she embarked on a long-anticipated trip to Europe, accompanied by a niece of Henrietta Couzens. Her health declined during the trip, and she died at Cogshill in 1935.

To conclude, Jessie Willcox Smith made her mark on the world of illustration by portraying an image of childhood that was enormously popular and that inspires nostalgia in many contemporary viewers. Catherine Stryker (1976), in the catalogue of an exhibition celebrating the work of the three women at Cogslea, characterizes Smith's work as depicting a type of childhood rather than any one child. Perhaps the most fitting summary of her work is offered by Schnessel, "In her life and in her work, it was the ideal that predominated, and the ideal child is the legacy left us by this remarkable artist" (1977, 23).

Elzea, Rowland. "American Illustration 1880-1930." The American Illustration Collections of the Delaware Art Museum. Ed. Rowland Elzea and Iris Snyder. Wimington: Delaware Art Museum, 1991. p.7-12.

Goodman, Helen. "Women Illustrators of the Golden Age of American Illustration." Woman's Art Journal. 8.1 (1987): 13-22.

Mahony, Bertha E. and Elinor Whitney, comps. Contemporary Illustrators of Children's Books. Boston: The Bookshop for Boys and Girls,Women's Educational and Industrial Union, 1930.

Mitchell, Gene. The Subject was Children: The Art of Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979.

Morris, Harrison S. "Jessie Willcox Smith." The Book Buyer. 24 (April 1902): 201-205.

Morris, Harrison S. "Mother-Love in Jessie Willcox Smith's Art." Current Literature. XLV (December 1908): 635-41.

Pitz, Henry C. The Brandywine Tradition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969

Schnessel, S. Michael. Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.

Part II Bibliography of Secondary Sources

Armstrong, Regina. "Representative American Women Illustrators: The Decorative Workers." The Critic. 36 (June 1900): 520-29.

Commire, Anne, ed. Something About the Author. Vol. 21. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1980.

Earle, Mary Tracy. "The Red Rose." The Lamp. 26 (May 1903): 275-84.

Elzea, Rowland. "American Illustration 1880-1930." The American Illustration Collections of the Delaware Art Museum. Eds. Rowland Elzea and Iris Snyder. Wimington: Delaware Art Museum, 1991. 7-12.

Elzea, Rowland. A Small School of Art. Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum, 1980.

Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985.

Goodman, Helen. "Women Illustrators of the Golden Age of American Illustration." Woman's Art Journal. 8.1 (1987): 13-22.

Haywood, Carolyn. "Jessie Willcox Smith." Image and Maker: An Annual Dedicated to the Consideration of Book Illustration. Ed. Harold Darling and Peter Neumeyer. LaJolla, CA: Green Tiger, 1984. 37-42.

Ison, Mary M. "Things Nobody Heard of: Jessie Willcox Smith Draws the Water-Babies." The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress. 39 (Spring 1982): 90-101.

Likos, Patt. "The Ladies of the Red Rose." The Feminist Art Journal 5.3 (Fall 1976): 11-15, 42.

Mahony, Bertha E. and Elinor Whitney, comps. Contemporary Illustrators of Children's Books. Boston: The Bookshop for Boys and Girls,Women's Educational and Industrial Union, 1930.

Mitchell, Gene. The Subject Was Children: The Art of Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979.

Morris, Harrison S. "Jessie Willcox Smith." The Book Buyer. 24 (April 1902): 201-205.

Morris, Harrison S. "Mother-Love in Jessie Willcox Smith's Art." Current Literature. XLV (December 1908): 635-41.

Nudelman, Edward D. Jessie Willcox Smith: A Bibliography. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1989.

Nudelman, Edward D. Jessie Willcox Smith: American Illustrator. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1990.

Pitz, Henry C. The Brandywine Tradition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969

Reed, Walter and Roger Reed. The Illustrator in America 1880-1980: A Century of Illustration. New York: Madison Square Press for the Society of Illustrators, 1984.

Schnessel, S. Michael. Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.

Waters, Clara Erskine Clement. Women in the Fine Arts from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1904.

Bibliography of Non-Print Sources

Artists Biographies: Jessie Willcox Smith from the Illustrator's House. http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/smith_bio.html

McHenry, Robert, ed. Her heritage: A biographical encyclopedia of famous American women. Cambridge, MA: Pilgrim New Media, Merriam-Webster, 1994. S.v. "Jessie Willcox Smith." (CD-ROM).

Part III Bibliography of Works Illustrated and/or Written by
Jessie Willcox Smith

This bibliography does not include reprints, translations, compilations, serial illustrations, non-book items for home decoration such as wallpaper and tiles, or the picture books -- mostly unpublished. In addition, books to which Smith contributed but did not illustrate entirely are not included. For a complete list see: Nudelman, Edward D. Jessie Willcox Smith: A bibliography. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1989. School of Information Sciences Z8820.83 N8

Items held by the University of Pittsburgh are followed by the item's location number.

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Boston: Little, Brown, 1915.
ENR Alcott, Louisa May

Alcott, Louisa May. An Old Fashioned Girl. Boston: Little, Brown, 1902.

American Art by American Artists. New York: Collier & Son, 1914. (Illustrated by various artists).

Bacon, Josephine Daskam. Ten to Seventeen. New York: Harper & Brother Publishers, 1908. (Illustrated by various artists.)

Bell, Louise Price. Kitchen Fun: A Cookbook for Children. Cleveland: Harter Publishing, 1932. (Cover illustration by JWS, other illustrations not by JWS.)

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. In the Closed Room. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1904.
Hillman PS1214 I35

Chapin, Anna Alice. The Everyday Fairy Book. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1915.

Chapin, Anna Alice. The Now-a-Days Fairy Book. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1911.

A Child's Stamp Book of Old Verses Pictured by Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: Duffield, 1915.

Coussens, Penrhyn Wingfield, comp. A Child's Book of Stories. New York: Duffield, 1911.
ENR Pz8.1 C812Chi

Cox, Florence Tinsley. The Chronicles of Rhoda. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1909.

Crothers, Samuel McChord, comp. The Children of Dickens. Scribner's Illustrated Classics. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
Information Science Library Juv PR4589 C7

Franchot, Annie W. Bugs and Wings and Other Things. New York: E. P. Dutton, [1918]. (Color frontispiece by JWS, reproduced on cover jacket. Other illustrations by Harrison Cady.)

Goodwin, Elizabeth Sage. Rhymes of Real Children. New York: Fox, Duffield., 1903.

Goodwin, Maud Wilder. The Head of a Hundred. Boston: Little, Brown, 1897. (Contains some illustrations by other artists. An edition issued in 1900 contains an additional color frontispiece by JWS.)

Hawthorne, Nathanial. "Mosses from an Old Manse." The Complete Writings of Nathanial Hawthorne. Vol. 5. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1900. (One black-and -white illustration by JWS; illustrated by various artists. Autograph edition has frontispiece by JWS and is signed.)

Hawthorne, Nathanial. "Tales and Sketches." The Complete Writings of Nathanial Hawthorne. Vol 16. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1900. (One black-and-white illustration by JWS; illustrated by various artists.)

Higgins, Aileen C. Dream Blocks. New York: Duffield, 1908.

Humphrey, Mabel. The Book of the Child. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1903 (Illustrations also contributed by Elizabeth Shippen Green.)

Keyes, Angela M. The Five Senses. New York: Moffat, Yard, 1911.

Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1916.

PZ8 K619Wat

Long, John Luther. Billy-Boy. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1906.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadia. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1897. (Illustrations also contributed by Violet Oakley.)

MacDonald, George. At the Back of the North Wind. McKay's Illustrated Classics. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1919.

MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin. McKay's Illustrated Classics. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1920.

McCall, Sidney. Truth Dexter. Boston: Little, Brown, 1903. (One black-and-white illustration by JWS; first published in 1901 without illustration.)

Moore, Clement Clark. `Twas the Night Before Christmas. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.

Reed, Helen Leah. Brenda, Her School and Her Club. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1900.

Reed, Helen Leah. Brenda's Summer at Rockley. Boston: Little, Brown, 1901.

Sage, Betty. Rhymes of Real Children. New York: Fox, Duffield, 1903.

Saville, Emily Eldredge. Memories and a Garden. n. p., 1924.

Sheldon, Mary Stewart. The Way to Wonderful. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1917.

Sill, Sarah Cauffman. Reminiscences of the Old Chest of Drawers. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1900.

Skinner, Ada M. and Eleanor L. comps. A Child's Book of Country Stories. New York: Duffield, 1925.

Skinner, Ada M. and Eleanor L. Skinner, comps. A Child's Book of Modern Stories. New York: Duffield, 1920.

Skinner, Ada M. and Eleanor L. A Little Child's Book of Stories. New York: Duffield, 1922.

Skinner, Ada M. and Eleanor L. Skinner, comps. A Very Little Child's Book of Stories. New York: Duffield, 1923.

Smith, Elva S., comp. A Book of Lullabies. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1925. (Illustrated with the work of various artists, one black-and-white illustration by JWS.)

Smith, Jessie Willcox. Baby's Red Letter Days. Syracuse: Just's Food, 1901.
ENR 098 B115

Smith, Jessie Willcox, comp. A Child's Book of Old Verses. New York: Duffield, 1910.

Smith, Jessie Willcox. A Portfolio of Real Children. New York: Fox, Duffield, 1905.

Smith, Jessie Willcox, comp. The Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1914. (Also issued as a set of twelve card wrapper toybooks.)

Smith, Jessie Willcox. The Little Mother Goose. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1918.

Smith, Nora Archibald. Boys and Girls of Bookland. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1923.

Smith, Mary P. Wells. The Young Puritans in Captivity. Boston: Little, Brown, 1899.

Spyri, Johanna. Heidi. McKay's Illustrated Classics. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1922.
ENR Spyri, Johanna

Staver, Mary Wiley. New and True. Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1892. (Illustrated by five artists.)

Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of Verses. Scribner's Illustrated Classics. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.
ENR 821.8 s848ch 1905

Stewart, Mary. The Way to Wonderland. Dodd, 1917.

Stuart, Ruth McEnery. Sonny's Father. New York: Century, 1910.

Taylor, Mary Imlay. Little Mistress Goodhope. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1902.

Thirty Favorite Paintings. New York: P. F. Collier, 1908. (Illustrations by leading American artists).

Toogood, Cora Cassard. A Child's Prayer. Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1925.

Underwood, Priscilla. When Christmas Comes Around. New York: Duffield, 1915.

Waugh, Ida. Ideal hands. Philadelphia: Sunshine Publishing, 1890. (Illustrated by various artists; one black-and-white illustration by JWS).

Wells, Carolyn. The Seven Ages of Childhood. New York: Moffat, Yard, 1909.

Whitney, Helen Hay. The Bed Time Book. New York: Duffield, 1907.

In addition, Jessie Willcox Smith was a prolific illustrator for magazines, advertisements, calendars and posters. The following is a summary of the major magazines that she was associated with; included are approximate dates.

Collier's 1899-1916

Good Housekeeping Magazine 1912-1933

Ladies Home Journal 1896-1915

McClure's Magazine 1903-1909

Saint Nicholas Magazine 1888-1905

Scribner's Magazine 1900-1937

Ladies Home Companion until 1897, name changed to Woman's Home Companion 1896-1920

{Part 4. Scanned Images My first choice is one of the illustrations from the Water-Babies, but the SIS library's copy seems to be missing. I've included my choice from this work, copied from the secondary source: Ison, Mary M.. "Things Nobody Heard Of: Jessie Willcox Smith Draws the Water-Babies." The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 39 (Spring 1982): 90-101. Another possibility is the enclosed image from A Child's Garden of Verses. If you would like something from a classic in the ENR, my choice would be the enclosed image from Little Women. (I copied this from a secondary source.) I have also included a portrait taken from Nudelman, Edward D. Jessie Willcox Smith: A Bibliography. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1989. There are also numerous photos of her in both Nudelman books, and the Schnessel book. }

Part IV EXHIBITION CATALOGS

Brandywine River Museum. Women Artists in the Howard Pyle Tradition: A Catalogue Presented in Connection with the Exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum of the Tri-County Conservancy of the Brandywine, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, September 6 through November 23, 1975. [Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1975.]
* ENR Ji 707.4 W872

Delaware Art Museum. The Golden Age of American Illustration, 1880-1914. [Catalogue of the Exhibition Held] September 14 - October 15, 1972. [Wilmington, DE]: Delaware Art Museum, 1972.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Jessie Willcox Smith. [Catalogue of an Exhibition Held] March 14 - April 12, 1936 [at the] Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1936.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The Pennsylvania Academy and its Women, 1850-1920. [Catalogue of an Exhibition Held] May 3 - June 16, 1973 [at the] Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1974. N680 AS Frick Fine Arts Library

Stryker, Catherine Connell. The Studios at Cogslea. [Catalogue of an Exhibition Held] Feb 20 -March 28, 1976 [at the ] Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware. Wilmington, DE: Delaware Art Museum, 1976.

This resource guide represents the combined work of the following people: , Michelle Frisque, Beth Kean, and Elizabeth T. Mahoney.

Updated by David M. Frank, February 2006.