Jessie Willcox Smith Art
American, 1863-1935
But success as an illustrator wasn't immediate. She got a job in the production department of The Ladies Home Journal in 1889 and was still working there five years later when Howard Pyle began teaching illustration at Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences. Smith was accepted as a pupil in his first class. At 31, she was only 10 years younger than her teacher and one of his oldest students. Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley soon joined her in the class, and the three became lifelong friends. Smith's first commission through Pyle was for an 1897 edition of Evangeline that she illustrated with Oakley. The two joined another Pyle student to rent a studio, and Green later joined them there. In 1901, the three shared the lease on an old inn outside of Philadelphia. That's the same year as the illustration above from "The Last of the Fairy Wands" in the December issue of Scribners Magazine. She produced two calendars with Green for 1902 that helped establish the careers of both women. The most important was "The Child," which showcased some of her most sensitive renditions of children to date. The images were collected into a book the following year. One of Smith's three images from that book is above at right. The magazines and books of the day voraciously consumed as much color work as possible. Pyle's students were some of the best-prepared new entrants into the illustration market, and Pyle's name gave them access to the magazines' pages.to
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Artist: Jessie Willcox Smith
Original Have You a Red Cross Service Flag? vintage WW1 poster
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Spokane, WA
Original 1918 Red Cross Poster - "Have YOU a Red Cross Service Flag?" - Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, Linen Backed. Restored horizontal fold mark and restored small tears along the bottom. This poster is, after all, more than 107 years old.
Own a Piece of History! 1918 "Have You a Red Cross Service Flag?" Poster ✨
Step back into history with this original 1918 Red Cross poster. It is a poignant and touching piece of WWI-era Americana, beautifully preserving a time of nationwide unity and heartfelt service. Illustrated by the celebrated artist Jessie Willcox Smith, this lithograph captures the tender moment of a child hanging a Red Cross service flag in the window—a symbol of hope, sacrifice, and pride in supporting humanitarian efforts during World War I.
The poster radiates warmth, with Smith’s signature style of innocence and emotional depth shining through in the delicate depiction of the boy, the adorned window, and the serene winter backdrop. The vibrant red and white cross emblem on the service flag is a focal point of the artwork, inspiring viewers to reflect on the values of compassion and generosity that the Red Cross championed during this period.
As a significant historical artifact and a beautiful piece of early 20th-century American illustration, this poster would be an exceptional addition to any serious collection of WWI memorabilia...
Category
1910s American Modern Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Lithograph
Dream Blocks
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Signature: Unsigned
Sight Size 28.00" x 19.75", Framed 39.00" x 30.75"
Little kid looking out the window.
Exhibitions: Allentown Art Museum, At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic (June 3- September 9, 2013)
Literature: Aileen C. Higgins, Dream Blocks, New York, 1908, illustrated in color as frontispieceMichael S. Schnessel, Jessie Willcox Smith, Toronto, Canada, 1977, pp. 45, 94Edward D. Nudelman, Jessie Willcox Smith: A Bibliography, Gretna, Louisiana, 1989, A. 26, illustrated in color p. 50 Edward D. Nudelman, Jessie Willcox Smith: American Illustrator, Gretna, Louisiana, 1990, pp. 34, 48Alice A. Carter, The Red Rose Girls...
Category
Early 1900s Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
The Great Drawing- Room Was Haunted by a Tuneful Spirit That Came and Went
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Story illustration for Louisa May Alcott's classic story Little Women featuring Beth March playing the piano in Mr. Laurence's grand house.
The full...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal, Watercolor, Gouache, Board
Mother and Child, Golden Age of Illustration
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Miami, FL
America's greatest female illustrator draws a heartwarming picture of a mother putting to bed her child. Motherly love towards their children is the artist's most iconic theme. This ...
Category
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Ink, Illustration Board, Pen
The Green Door
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed Lower Left, Titled Lower Center
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal, Mixed Media
Woman with Child, Collier's Magazine Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1904
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Sight Size 14.75" x 14.75", Framed 23.00" x 23.00"
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Cover of Colliers magazine,...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
Girl on Swing, Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Gouache on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 20.00" x 15.00", Framed 30.00" x 24.50"
Jessie Wilcox Smith never married, but t...
Category
1920s Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Gouache
Two Young Girls
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Contact for dimensions.
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media
"The Story Hour" Illustration for Harper's Bazar
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
This large oil painting depicting a sweet moment of maternal bonding was published as an interior illustration for Harper’s Bazar in May 1910. Jessie Willcox Smith gained renown for ...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Oil, Board
The Blue Pump
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed Lower Right by Artist
July 1927 Cover of Good Housekeeping
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Twas The Night Before Christmas
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Gouache and Watercolor on Board
Sight Size 18.00" x 17.00", Framed 25.00" x 24.00"
"Twas The Night Before Christmas" by Clemen...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Board
The Playful Child
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Original cover for Good Housekeeping magazine, published March 1931
Category
1930s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Oil
Bobs, King of the Fortunate Isle
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Annie W. Franchot, Bobs, King of the Fortunate Isle, New York, 1928, frontispiece illustration
LITERATURE:
Edward D. Nu...
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
May I Have the Pleasure, Good Housekeeping Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed Lower Right by Artist
Titled on the reverse: May I Have the Pleasure
Good Housekeeping cover, November 1926
As Jessie Willcox Smith biographer S. Michael Schnessel has a...
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
“Evangeline: Tale of Acadia”
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed with initials lower right
The painting is one of the 4 illustrations that JWS did for the book “Evangeline: Tale of Acadia”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...
Category
1890s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Rhymes of Real Children
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1903
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Sight Size 18.00" x 15.75", Framed 24.50" x 22.25"
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Betty Sage, Rhymes of Real Children, New York, 1903, illustr...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
The Pink Bonnet
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1907
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Dimensions: 18.25" x 15.25"
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Provenance- From the Helen Hay Whitney estate (the author of The Bed-Time Book for ...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
Merry Christmas
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media on Paperboard
Signature: Unsigned
This piece was an advertisement for Lowney's Crest Chocolates. Edward Nudelman, Jessie Willcox Smith expert and biographer describes Merry Christmas: Two Children Before the Fireplace, “A wonderful mixed media painting by Jessie Willcox Smith, published as an advertisement for Lowney's Crest Chocolates, reminiscent of her paintings for Twas the Night...
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media, Board
The Little Land
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Gouache and Mixed Media on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Left
Illustration from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic poetry volume, 'A Chil...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Gouache, Board
Water Babies- Sitting on a Leaf
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Ink and Watercolor on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Contact for exact dimensions.
LITERATURE:
Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies, New York, 1916, illustrated
Edwar...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Girl with Bloomers, Good Housekeeping Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil and Gold Paint on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 19.00" x 16.00" Oval, Framed 24.00" x 21.00"
April. 1920 Good Houseke...
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Oil, Paint
Bed-Time, Scribners Monthly Magazine Illustration
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Approximate Date: 1902
Medium: Charcoal, Watercolor and Oil on Illustration Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 23.50" x 15.50", Framed 31.50" x 23.00"
Bed-Time, published...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal, Illustration Board, Oil, Watercolor
The Daisy Wreath, cover for Harper's Bazar
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media on Board
Sight Size 18.50" x 18.00", Framed 21.50" x 21.00"
Signature: Signed Lower Left
Original cover for Harper's Bazar, published June 1910
One of America's greatest illustrators, Jessie Willcox Smith attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and studied under Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia, graduating in 1888. A year later, she found work in the production department of the Ladies' Home Journal, for five years. After that, she continued her art education with classes under Howard Pyle, first at Drexel and then at the Brandywine School.
Smith then established her reputation, illustrating stories and articles for Century, Collier's Weekly, Leslie's Weekly, Harper's, McClure's,Scribner's, and the Ladies' Home Journal. Smith was closely associated with the artists Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley, who also studied with Pyle, and the group became known as "the Red Rose Girls...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media, Board
Good Housekeeping Cover, The Little Golfer
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 19.00" x 16.00", Framed 26.00" x 23.00"
Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover, July 1928.
Jessie Wilcox Smith...
Category
1920s Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Oil
Chapel of Grace Church Nursery
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Original illustration for an article entitled "While the Mother Works: A Look at the Day Nurseries of New York" by Lillie Hamilton French, published in The Century Magazine...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Paper, Pencil
Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Paper Laid Down to Board
Signature: Signed Lower Left
This is an illustration for the book by Samual McChord Crothers, The Children of Dickens, originally published in 1925. Bob Cratchit first appeared in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol as the victimized clerk of cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge. Timothy Cratchit, also known as Tiny Tim...
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Oil, Paper, Board
Bobbing for Apples
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Three young children bobbing for apples.
Jessie Wilcox Smith never married, but throughout her long career, specialized in drawing a...
Category
20th Century Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Pencil
As a Special Privilege the Zealot Bore it in Blazing
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1903
Medium: Mixed Media on Paper
Sight Size 24.25" x 15.50", Framed 31.35" x 22.50"
Signature: Signed Lower Left
Scribner's Magazine story illustration, November 1911, 1903
...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
Good Housekeeping cover. Christmas: Child Praying
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Miami, FL
Famed female illustrator, Jessie Willcox Smith paints the " Ideal Child" in a spiritual moment for the Christmas cover of Good Housekeeping. The acc...
Category
1910s American Impressionist Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Introducing Heidi
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
"Introducing Heidi." Original illustration for page 11 of "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri (Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1922). Charcoal and watercolor on board. 10 1/2x8 inches, on 20x15-inch board. Unsigned but captioned "Chapter I" in lower margin with publisher's label on verso.
an original drawing from smith's final fully-illustrated work.
Heidi was "a perfect showcase for Smith's illustrative art...
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal, Watercolor, Board
Thanksgiving, Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 15.50" x 15.00", Framed 23.00" x 22.00"
signed Jessie Willcox Smith (lower right); signed Jessie Willcox Smith and titl...
Category
Mid-20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Oil
Two Little Girls, Good Housekeeping Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Board
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Sight Size 22.00" x 16.00", Framed 31.00" x 25.00"
Two Little Girls. It looks as though they are walking to school with their books in one hand and holding hands with the other.
Good Housekeeping Magazine cover, September 1924
Smith, Jessie Willcox:Smith is known mostly for her whimsical illustrations of children. She illustrated "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson and numerous magazine covers.. American painter and illustrator, 1863-1935
Jessie Wilcox Smith...
Category
1920s Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Oil
Portrait of Seated Girl
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Charcoal on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal, Paper
"Where nothing was seen but the Quaker gown."
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Story illustration for Reminiscences of The Old Chest of Drawers by Sarah Cauffman Sill (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1900), page 10
Medium: Charcoal on Paper
Signature: Signed Lo...
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
Woman's Home Companion Magazine Cover
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1912
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Sight Size 18.50" x 12.50", Framed 27.50" x 21.50"
Signature: Signed Lower Left
July 1912 Woman's Home Companion Magazine Cover
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Water Babies Illustration- Tadpoles
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Ink and Watercolor on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Contact for exact dimensions.
Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies, New York, 1916, illustrated
Edward D. Nudelman,...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Boy with Pull Toy
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Pen and Ink on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Line drawing illustration from Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" (New York: Scribner's, 1905).
A char...
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Ink, Pen
The Young Scholar, Original cover for Good Housekeeping magazine, October 1922
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Original cover for Good Housekeeping, published October 1922.
The Young Scholar, reproduced on the cover of the October 1922 issue of Good Housekeeping, demonstrates Jessie Willcox ...
Category
1920s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media, Board
Exhibition Announcement
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signature: Signed with the Artist's Initials J.W.S. (Lower Right)
Medium: Ink and Gouache on Paperboard
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Ink, Gouache, Board
Boy Playing Dress-Up, Story Illustration
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
"He surveyed himself with satisfaction." Illustration for An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1902 by Little, Brown, & Company
Smith, Jessie Willcox: Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1863 to an affluent family, Jessie Willcox Smith attended private schools in that city, as well as in Cincinnati, Ohio. At age 20, she went to work as a kindergarten teacher but soon learned that she could not handle the stress of dealing with small children. On a suggestion from one of her cousins, Smith took art classes, first at the School of Design for Women, then at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Later, Smith went on to study at Drexel University. It was at that school she became good friends with two other artists, Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley. The trio dubbed themselves "The Red Rose Girls...
Category
20th Century Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Charcoal
Alcott's Old Fashioned Girl
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
"'I choose this,' said Polly, holding up a long white kid glove, shrunken and yellow with time, but looking as if it had a history."
Illustration for An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa...
Category
20th Century Other Art Style Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Board, Charcoal
Two Women at Tea
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
“Now as Julia sat there drinking tea from the quaintest of old-fashioned china cups, and eating slices of thin bread and butter, and cakes that almost melted in her mouth, she could ...
Category
Early 1900s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Charcoal
Water Babies- Sitting on a Leaf
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Ink and Watercolor on Paper
Signature: Signed Lower Right
Contact for exact dimensions.
Inscribed Signed for-/Thomas Oakley/CHRISTMAS-1919 (lower right)
-
Charles Kingsle...
Category
20th Century Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Fourth of July
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed Lower Right
Category
1980s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Oil
Pease-Porridge Hot, Pease-Porridge Cold
By Jessie Willcox Smith
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Mixed Media on Paperboard
Signature: Signed Lower Right
This mixed media art by Jesssie Willcox Smith, entitled “Pease-Porridge Hot, Pease-Porridge Cold,” was executed in 19...
Category
1910s Jessie Willcox Smith Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media, Board
Jessie Willcox Smith art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Jessie Willcox Smith art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange, green, red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Jessie Willcox Smith in board, paint, mixed media and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Jessie Willcox Smith art, so small editions measuring 1 inch across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Lauren Rinaldi, Dean Cornwell, and Martha Walter. Jessie Willcox Smith art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $4,000 and tops out at $450,000, while the average work can sell for $100,000.
Artists Similar to Jessie Willcox Smith
Questions About Jessie Willcox Smith Art
- 1stDibs ExpertJanuary 10, 2025The most famous book that Jessie Willcox Smith illustrated is arguably Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. However, the American artist also produced illustrations for numerous other books. Among them were A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, The Seven Ages of Childhood by Carolyn Wells, The Rhymes of Real Children by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and An Old-Fashioned Girl, also by Louisa May Alcott. Explore a range of Jessie Willcox Smith art on 1stDibs.