Adelaide Hiebel (1885–1965) was an artist and illustrator who worked for the Gerlach Barklow Co. in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 census, the city was the third-largest in Illinois, with a population of 150,362. Hist ...

, a manufacturer of art

calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a ph ...

. Hiebel preferred to work in

pastels A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

, and was known for her photographic detail and portraits of women, especially "women and dogs, mothers with infants, infant portraits and small children in cute situations."

Biography

Adelaide Hiebel was born in New Hope, Wisconsin in 1885. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with

Zula Kenyon Zula Kenyon (June 5, 1873 – June 23, 1947) was an American illustrator, best known for her pastel work for the Gerlach Barklow Co. Early life Kenyon was born in Deansville, Wisconsin, the daughter of John Kenyon and Sarah Clark Kenyon. He ...

, and taught art at Oshkosh College in 1916. Zula Kenyon recommended her for work at Gerlach Barklow Co. She moved to Joliet, Illinois to work with the company in 1918, and was given the opportunity to work from a home studio. Gerlach Barklow calendars were purchased by businesses to be given to their important customers as gifts. Many of the company's artists were women, or local residents. In Joliet Hiebel lived with her husband, who was involved in the "liquor trade", and met an untimely death. Adelaide Hiebel was known for her large parties, which attracted nationally known artists, and were financed by her earnings of as much as $10,000 per painting. Fifty of Hiebel's documented works survive. A brother, Ben, also worked for Gerlach Barklow. A sister died when she was young. "Adelaide always said her sister was an angel who sat on her shoulder and guided her work." Hiebel's most famous work was a pastel of

Lois Delander Lois Eleanor Delander (February 14, 1911 – January 23, 1985) was Miss America in 1927. Biography Delander, a native of Joliet, Illinois and high school junior, aged 16, won the Miss America crown on her parents' twentieth wedding anniversa ...

, Miss America 1927, wearing a white bathing suit. She moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to retire in 1955, and died in 1965 in Santa Ana, California.

Biography

References

Further reading