Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863–May 3, 1935) was one of the most prominent female illustrators in the US during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was a prolific contributor to respected books and magazines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She illustrated stories and articles for clients such as Century, Collier's Weekly, Leslie's Weekly, Harper's, McClure's, Scribners, and the Ladies' Home Journal. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Willcox_Smith) Jessie Willcox Smith, American artist and illustrator, was called a “painter of children” by periodicals of the early 1900s. She became one of the highest-paid women illustraors of all time. It was said of the ideal children that populated her illustrations, “they are clean, they are pretty, they don't look noisy, they are unusually rosy and wholesome, yet not too chubby to be graceful; they are a bit old-fashioned, both in their manners and their comfortable clothing, and it is easy to see that they are only sufficiently naughty to be entertaining.” Born in Philadelphia, PA, Smith attended the School of Design for Women and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After graduation in 1888 she worked in the advertising and production department of the Ladies' Home Journal magazine. After five years she left to study under Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute. With her illustrator companions Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley, she established a studio near Philadelphia and began a prolific and lengthy career. Jessie Willcox Smith created magazine covers, posters, calendars, and portraits, and produced hundreds of story illustrations for books and magazines. Although she had no children of her own, children became the focus of her art. She became famous for her sensitive and much loved portrayal of small children in family settings. With her eyesight declining in the early 1930s, she retired from active painting and died in 1935. http://www.illustration-art-solutions.com undefined

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