I simply can't resist the charming illustrations of artist Jesse Wilcox Smith (1863-1935). Best known for her work in magazines and children's books, Smith was a prolific artist; in addition to creating illustrations for books and magazines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, she also provided covers for Good Housekeeping from 1917 through 1933. Smith and her friends and fellow artists Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley were known as the "Red Rose Girls" and lived in a picturesque house on Philadelphia's Main Line where they led rather unconventional lives for their time. Alice A. Carter wrote a fabulous book about these incredible women and I highly recommend it, if only to look at the pictures.
This particular work is entitled "Curly Locks" and is a pastel on paper. Executed in January of 1914, it was used as an illustration for Good Housekeeping Magazine's Mother Goose series. There's just something about the way that Smith manages to capture the sweet (but not saccharine) essence of childhood that tugs at my heartstrings...it's a cute overload!
So who wants to lend me a couple grand?
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