Mildred Burleigh (born 1887) was a professional artist and a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

for the Chicago Tribune during the 1920s. She studied drawing at

Michigan Normal College Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United ...

and worked as a drawing instructor in Oregon during the 1910s before beginning her career.

Career

Burleigh was working as a professional cartoonist by 1921, when her cartoon, ''Pigtails'', appeared in the ''Chicago Tribune.'' This comic strip ran until 1923. According to comic historian Allan Holtz, ''Pigtails'' focused on daily experiences of young girls, including family life, chores, and childhood aspirations. Her focus on girlhood distinguished her from her colleagues, such as Clare Briggs and

John T. McCutcheon John Tinney McCutcheon (May 6, 1870 – June 10, 1949) was an American newspaper political cartoonist, war correspondent, combat artist, and author who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1931 editorial cartoon, "A Wise Economist Asks a Question," an ...

, who developed their comics from a masculine point-of-view. After ''Pigtails'' ended in 1923, she created the series ''Kitty and Her Family''. ''Kitty'' was mentioned by name in advertisements for the ''Chicago Tribune'''s Sunday subscriptions, ending with the tagline "Fun for everyone--man, woman, or child." Little is known about Burleigh's career after 1924, but she appears in the 1930 and 1940 censuses in New York City, working as a "freelance artist" and later as a "freelance advertising cartoonist." During this period, she likely created an undated lithograph, "Clown," which resides in the Martin W. Brown Collection at the

University of Maryland Art Gallery The University of Maryland Art Gallery is the flagship art museum on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The Gallery is a member of the American Alliance of Museums, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, and the Natio ...

. This collection, acquired by the gallery in 1955, includes prints by a number of twentieth-century American Regionalist artists, such as John Steuart Curry. Like Curry, Burleigh's work speaks to small-town American life before, during, and after the Great Depression.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burleigh, Mildred 1887 births Year of death missing Chicago Tribune people American comic strip cartoonists American women cartoonists

Career

See also

References