Esphyr Slobodkina (russian: Эсфирь Соломоновна Слободкина; September 22, 1908 – July 21, 2002) was a Russian Empire-born American artist, author, and illustrator, best known for her classic children's
picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...
''
Caps for Sale
''Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business'' is a children's picture book, written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina and published by W. R. Scott in 1940.
Summary
Based on a folktale, the story follows a must ...
''. Slobodkina was a celebrated
avant garde artist and
feminist in the middle part of the 20th century.
Biography
Esphyr Slobodkina (''ESS-phere sloh-BOD-kee-nah'') was born in
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in 1908.
[Ari L. Goldman,]
Esphyr Slobodkina, Artist And Author, Is Dead at 93
" ''New York Times'', July 27, 2002. The
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
created an unstable and dangerous climate for their Jewish family and she emigrated with her family to
Harbin,
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
(
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
), where she studied art and architecture. Slobodkina immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1928.
She enrolled at the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
. It was there that she met her future husband, Russian-born Ilya Bolotowsky (they divorced in 1938). Along with Ilya, Slobodkina was a founding member of the
American Abstract Artists
American Abstract Artists (AAA) was formed in 1936 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major fo ...
group, which began amid controversy in 1936. Like other Russian modernists, surrounded by ancient icons and a rich craft tradition, Slobodkina developed a lifelong appreciation of clear, rich colors, and flat, stylized forms.
According to her biography on the HarperCollins website,
In the late 1930s, Slobodkina began to write and illustrate her own children's books. Among her 24 published works ''Caps for Sale'' (1940) is considered a children's book classic; it has sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. ''Caps for Sale'' won the
Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was an American literary award conferred on several books annually by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education annually from 1958 to 1979. Award-winning books were deemed to "belong on the same shelf" ...
in 1958. Other children's works include ''The Wonderful Feast'' (written in 1928, first published in 1955), ''The Clock'' (1956), ''The Long Island Ducklings'' (1961), and ''Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant'' (1967), reissued as ''Circus Caps for Sale'' (2002).
In 1948, feeling the need to get out of New York City and having saved some money, Slobodkina built a house in
Great Neck, New York
Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincorpo ...
and moved there with her mother; they remained in the house until 1977. According to the Sullivan Goss art gallery website,
Slobodkina died in 2002.
Work
Through the 1930s Slobodkina developed her unique method of working in oils; a flattened, abstracted style that incorporated line, suspended or interlocking forms. But by the late 30s and 40s Slobodkina was using a variety of techniques and materials. Many of her works are collages and constructions, integrating paint, wood, plastic, and metal with everyday objects such as parts of disassembled typewriters and computers into amusing and often great art. Slobodkina's work eventually received high acclaim. In 1943, Slobodkina was included in
Peggy Guggenheim
Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down wi ...
's show ''
Exhibition by 31 Women'' at the
Art of This Century gallery in New York.
“Her life’s work pulled imagery and objects together into magnificent compositions time and time again," stated Harold Porcher, an authority on Slobodkina's art. "I equate an artist like Esphyr to the American mockingbird. A mockingbird borrows and embellishes the songs of other birds around him. Often he changes the phrasing as he incorporates each element into an orchestration of birdsong. The
abstract expressionist
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
movement shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York City, where it remains today. Slobodkina was a member of the early founders of American Abstract Artists which help to establish abstraction as a viable form of expression in America.
In the last years of the 20th century, Slobodkina continued her productivity, alternating serious work on abstract paintings with the more relaxing activities — to her — of creating sculpture, wall hangings, multimedia constructions, dolls and jewelry, often made out of old typewriter and computer parts.
As Anne Cohen DePietro wrote, "Traversing nearly a century of inspiration, it is Slobodkina’s enduring delight in the creative act and her single-minded pursuit of her aesthetic vision in a multiplicity of media that continues to enchant."
[Anne Cohen DePietro,]
"Esphyr Slobodkina,"
Slobodkina Foundation website.
Legacy
In April 2000, at age 91, Slobodkina established the Slobodkina Foundation, dedicated to the conservation, preservation, and exhibition of art. The Slobodkina Foundation was designed to educate the public about Slobodkina's work and encourage others to pursue their dreams through awareness of Slobodkina's accomplishments.
Before her death in 2002, Slobodkina redesigned her home in
Long Island,
New York, as a mini-museum and reading room for children, a place where guests viewed more than 500 works of art for more than ten years. Although the Slobodkina Home was sold out of necessity in 2011, the charitable Slobodkina Foundation continues to preserve the legacy of Slobodkina's prolific, multifaceted career.
Her paintings, sculptures and literary works are part of the collections of The
Metropolitan Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York; the
Smithsonian; the
Philadelphia Museum of Art; the
Heckscher Museum of Art
The Heckscher Museum of Art is named after its benefactor, August Heckscher, who in 1920 donated 185 works of art to be housed in a new Beaux-Arts building located in Heckscher Park, in Huntington, New York. The museum has over 2000 works of art ...
;
Hillwood Art Museum, the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, New York; the Northeast Children's Literature Collection,
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center,
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
, Storrs, Connecticut; the
Corcoran Gallery
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...
, Washington, DC; the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection,
The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...
; the
New York Public Library; among others.
Bibliography
''Written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina unless otherwise noted''
* ''The Little Fireman'', written by
Margaret Wise Brown (
W. R. Scott
W. R. Scott was a children's literature publisher based in New York City that specialized in visually striking books with a contemporary educational philosophy. W. R. Scott's first editor was Margaret Wise Brown; the company also published a nu ...
, 1938) — illustrator
* ''
Caps for Sale
''Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business'' is a children's picture book, written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina and published by W. R. Scott in 1940.
Summary
Based on a folktale, the story follows a must ...
'' (W. R. Scott, 1940)
* ''The Little Cowboy'', written by Margaret Wise Brown (W. R. Scott, 1948) — illustrator
* ''The Little Farmer'', written by Margaret Wise Brown (W. R. Scott, 1948) — illustrator
* ''Sleepy ABC'', written by Margaret Wise Brown (Lothrop, 1953) — illustrator
* ''The Clock'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1956)
* ''Little Dog Lost, Little Dog Found'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1956)
* ''Behind the Dark Window Shade'' (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1958)
* ''The Little Dinghy'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1958)
* ''Pinky and the Petunias'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1959)
* ''Moving Day for the Middlemans'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1960)
* ''Jack and Jim'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1961)
* ''The Long Island Ducklings'' (Lantern Press, 1961)
* ''Boris and His Balalaika'', illustrated by
Vladimir Bobri (Abelard-Schuman, 1964)
* ''Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1967) — later retitled ''Circus Caps for Sale''
* ''The Wonderful Feast'' (E. M. Hale, 1967)
* ''The Flame, the Breeze, and the Shadow'' (
Rand McNally and Co., 1967)
* ''Billy, the Condominium Cat'' (
Addison-Wesley
Addison-Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson PLC, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison-Wesley also distributes its technical titles throu ...
, 1980)
* ''Spots, Alias Prince'' (E. Slobodkina, 1987)
* ''Mary and the Poodies'' (E. Slobodkina, 1994)
* ''More Caps for Sale'' with Ann Marie Mulhearn Sayer (
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
, 2015) — published posthumously
* ''Caps for Sale and the Mindful Monkeys'' with Ann Marie Mulhearn Sayer (HarperCollins, 2017) — published posthumously
References
Other sources
*Esphyr Slobodkina, ''Notes for a Biographer'', a three-volume, limited edition autobiography.
*Gail Stavitsky and Elizabeth Wylie, ''The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina'', Tufts Univ Art Gallery (1992), .
*Ann Marie Sayer et al., ''Rediscovering Slobodkina: A Pioneer of American Abstraction'', Hudson Hills Press (2009), .
*JoAnn Conrad, ''Esphyr Slobodkina – Modernist (Children’s Book) Illustrator/Author'', https://blogs.lib.uconn.edu/archives/2015/09/29/esphyr-slobodkina-modernist-childrens-book-illustratorauthor/
External links
Esphyr Slobodkina – official website
American Abstract Artists– co-founded by Slobodkina
* (primarily previous page of browse report, under 'Slobodkina, Esphyr, 1908–' without '2002')
*Esphyr Slobodkina Papers at th
University of Connecticut Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slobodkina, Esphyr
Russian children's writers
Writers from Chelyabinsk
1908 births
2002 deaths
Abstract painters
Chinese emigrants to the United States
White Russian emigrants to the United States
Russian women painters
21st-century Russian sculptors
20th-century Russian sculptors
20th-century Russian painters
20th-century Russian women artists
Russian women children's writers
20th-century Russian women writers
20th-century Russian writers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to China
People from Great Neck, New York
People from Hallandale Beach, Florida
Naturalized citizens of the United States