Patricia Smith Scanlan

This study examine the careers of several important American women illustrators such as Elizabeth Shippen Green, Charlotte Harding, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Alice Barber Stephens, and the significance of their art and professional practices in turn-of-the-century American culture. These women achieved both significant professional recognition as fine artists as well as national fame and popularity for their magazine illustrations, yet their careers and works have largely been written out of American art history. This study illuminates the pivotal role of women illustrators in the realms of fine and commercial art alike; expands the canon to include forms of popular art; and contributes to understandings of the cultural landscape in the United States at this period.