Maud Fuller Petersham (August 5, 1890 – November 29, 1971) and Miska Petersham (September 20, 1888 – May 15, 1960) were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

writers and illustrators who helped set the direction for illustrated

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

that followed. The Petershams worked closely with such pioneering children's book editors

Louise Seaman Bechtel Louise Seaman Bechtel (June 29, 1894 – April 12, 1985) was an American editor, critic, author, and teacher of young children. She was the first person to head a juvenile book department established by an American publishing house. Biography ...

and

May Massee May Massee (May 1, 1881December 24, 1966) was an American children's book editor. She was the founding head of the children's literature, juvenile departments at Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday from 1922 and at Viking Press from 1932.picture books 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 ...

. Of the 50 books they both wrote and illustrated, many were recognized with important awards or critical acclaim.Lawrence Webster, ''Under the North Light: The Life and Work of Maud and Miska Petersham'', Woodstock, NY: WoodstockArts, 2012, p. 39. They are known for technical excellence, exuberant color, and the introduction of international folk and modernist themes.

Early life

Maud Fuller was born August 5, 1890, in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...

to a family with deep

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...

roots. Her mother was from the Sisson family, generations of Rhode Island

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. Her father descended from the physician on the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

''. He was a Baptist minister who moved his family several times.Dana R. Bailey
"Reverend Andrew King Fuller Biography"
''History of Minnehaha County, SD'', Sioux Falls, S.D.: Brown & Sanger, 1899. The third of four daughters, Maud graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1912, and later studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. While working at the International Art Service (IAS), a graphic design firm in New York City, she met her future husband, Miska Petersham. Miska was born Petrezselyem Mihaly in Torokszentmiklos,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, on September 20, 1888, the son of a carpenter and blacksmith. Miska studied at the Royal National School for Applied Arts in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He completed his studies in 1911 and moved first to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and within six months, travelling steerage, came to New York through

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...

in 1912. He quickly found work at the International Art Service, a graphic arts studio with modernist European style founded by Arthur Wiener. The Enchanted Forest Bowen Frontpiece c

Early career

Maud and Miska met across the drawing board of the IAS studios, and married three years later in 1917. They moved to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

in New York City. They obtained their first children's book work through Miska's Hungarian friend

Willy Pogany William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...

, an established illustrator, and in a few years they had steady illustration commissions and were championed and encouraged by May Massee at Doubleday.Sharyl G. Smith, ''Maud and Miska Petersham: Their Work in American Children’s Book Publishing, 1920–1939'', Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1985, p. 27. By 1923, they were established and able to buy land and build a house in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...

, on the edge of the thriving Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony. Among the books they illustrated during this period were ''A Child's Own Book of Verse'' (Books I and II),

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

's ''Rootabaga Stories'', Margery Clark's '' The Poppyseed Cakes'' and

Johanna Spyri Johanna Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Canton of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, ...

's ''Heidi''. The first book they both wrote and illustrated was ''Miki'', about their son, published in 1929. Maud later was to say, "At first we illustrated books written by others, but often we found no place in the text that lent itself to illustration, so we decided to plan a book of our own with both pictures and text."Lee Bennett Hopkins, ''Books Are by People: Interviews With 104 Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young Children'', Citation, 1969, pp. 209–20. The Petershams' work was recognized by the

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. T ...

(AIGA). Four of their books were selected for inclusion in the highly competitive AIGA exhibitions in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The titles so honored were ''Nursery Friends from France'', ''Children of the Mountain Eagle'', ''Tales Told in Holland'' and ''Get-A-Way and Háry János''. After the American Library Association established the annual

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

for children's picture books in 1937, the Petershams were one of the runners-up for ''An American ABC'' in 1942 and they won the 1946 Medal. Today they may be known best as creators of that winning work, ''

The Rooster Crows ''The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles'', written and illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham, is a 1945 picture book published by Simon & Schuster. ''The Rooster Crows'' was a Caldecott Medal winner for illustration in 1946. T ...

'' (Macmillan, 1945), a collection of American songs, rhymes, and games. The Petershams had two children, Miki, and Elizabeth Petersham. Fil and Filippa - Fiesta

Selected works

*''

Tales from Shakespeare ''Tales from Shakespeare'' is an English children's book written by the siblings Charles and Mary Lamb in 1807, intended "for the use of young persons" while retaining as much Shakespearean language as possible. Mary Lamb was responsible for r ...

'' by

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...

and

Mary Lamb Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847) was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles on the collection ''Tales from Shakespeare'' (1807). Mary suffered from mental illness, and in 1796, aged 3 ...

(1923) *''The Billy Bang Book'' by Mabel Guinnip La Rue (1927) *''Miki: The Book of Maud and Miska Petersham'' (1929) *''The Ark of Father Noah and Mother Noah'' (1930) *''The Christ Child'' (1931) *''Auntie and Celia Jane and Miki'' (1932) *''Get-A-Way and Háry János'' (1933) *''The Story Book of Things We Use: Houses, Clothes, Food, Transportation'' (1933) Also published in separate editions *''Miki and Mary: Their Search for Treasures'' (1934) *''The Story Book of Earth’s Treasures: Gold, Coal, Oil, Iron and Steel'' (1935) Also published in separate editions *''The Story Book of Wheels, Ships, Trains, Aircraft'' (1935) Also published in separate editions *''The Story Book of Foods from the Fields: Wheat, Corn, Rice, Sugar'' (1936) Also published in separate editions *''David: From the Story Told in the First Book of Samuel and the First Book of Kings'' (1938) *''Joseph and His Brothers'' (1938) *''Moses: From the Story Told in the Old Testament'' (1938) *''Ruth: From the Story Told in the Old Testament'' (1938) *''Stories from the Old Testament'' (1938) *''The Story Book of Things We Wear: Wool, Cotton, Silk, Rayon'' (1939) *''An American ABC'' (1941) *
Susannah, the Pioneer Cow
' by Miriam E. Mason''.'' Macmillan, 1941. *''Story of Jesus'' (1942) *''The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles'' (1945) *''America’s Stamps: The Story of One Hundred Years of U.S. Postage Stamps'' (1947) *''My Very First Book'' (1948) *''The Box with Red Wheels'' (1949) *''The Circus Baby'' (1950) *''A Bird in the Hand: Sayings from Poor Richard’s Almanac'' (1951) *''Story of the Presidents of the United States of America'' (1953) *''Off to Bed: 7 Stories for Wide-Awakes'' (1954) *''The Boy Who Had No Heart'' (1955) *
Miss Posy Longlegs
' by Miriam E. Mason''.'' Macmillan, 1955. *''The Silver Mace: A Story of Williamsburg'' (1956) *''The Peppernuts'' (1958) *''The Shepherd Psalm: Psalm XXIII from the Book of Psalms'' (Maud Petersham alone; 1962)

2012 exhibition

October 6 to December 31, 2012, "Inspired by the North Light: Maud and Miska Petersham", Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY.

References

External links