Jessie Willcox Smith

This joint gift from Mrs. Radeke and Isaac C. Bates, President of RISD’s Board from 1907 until his death in 1913, demonstrates their mutual interest in contemporary American art as well as in works that would advance the education of students in careers such as illustration. Jessie Willcox Smith, perhaps America’s most distinguished and prolific female illustrator, created the images for over 60 children’s books and hundreds of magazine covers, posters, and calendars. This drawing, a cover for Collier’s, is probably a portrait of Henrietta Cozens, a roommate and lifelong model for the artist. Its execution exhibits Smith’s early style of heavy, dark outlines and saturated colors, while showing her admiration for the compositions of artist Mary Cassatt.

Perhaps America’s most distinguished and prolific female illustrator, Jessie Willcox Smith illustrated over sixty children’s books and hundreds of magazine covers, posters, and calendars. She studied with Thomas Anshutz and Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and with Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute of Arts. This drawing, a cover for Collier’s, is probably a portrait of Henrietta Cozens, a roommate and lifelong model for the artist. The drawing exhibits Smith’s early style of heavy, dark outlines and saturated colors, while showing her admiration for the artist Mary Cassatt through the composition and especially the mother-and-child subject matter.

Perhaps America's most distinguished and prolific female illustrator, Jessie Willcox Smith was trained in the creative climate of Philadelphia's art academies at the tum of the century. In 1895 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, she studied with Thomas Anshutz and Thomas Eakins; from 1894 to 1897 she was guided by Howard Pyle, the charismatic "Dean of American Illustration" at the Drexel Institute of Arts, along with her classmate Maxfield Parrish. By 1904, Smith's illustrations were much in demand, and she signed an exclusive two-year contract with Collier's to produce their weekly magazine covers. The Picture Book -- Collier's cover for June 30, 1906 -- is a classic example of Smith's early style of heavy, dark outlines and saturated colors. It reveals her admiration for the work of American illustrator Edward Penfield and the color aquatints of Mary Cassatt, which Smith collected.