Wuanita Smith (January 1, 1866 – February 18, 1959) was an American painter, printmaker, and illustrator of children's books. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Art and the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

Biography

Smith was born in Philadelphia on January 1, 1866, and was the daughter of an oil refinery operator. After finishing

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, Smith attended and graduated from the

Philadelphia School of Design for Women Philadelphia School of Design for Women (1848–1932) was an art school for women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Housed in the former Edwin Forrest House at 1346 North Broad Street, under the directorship of Emily Sartain (1886–1920), ...

. In 1887, she worked her first job as a jewelry designer. Smith later attended the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

and the Drexel Institute. She studied with

Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...

, Hugh Breckenridge,

Ralph Pearson Ralph Gottfrid Pearson (January 12, 1919 – October 12, 2022) was an American physical inorganic chemist best known for the development of the concept of hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB). He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1943 ...

and exhibited at Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry along with other female artists. She belonged to

The Plastic Club The Plastic Club is an arts organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1897 for women only, the Plastic Club is one of the oldest art clubs in the United States. It is located on the 200 block of Camac Street, the "Little Street ...

, an arts organization in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania. Her

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio (printmaking), intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. ...

picture ''Approaching Storm'' is at the National Gallery of Art. Her woodcut print ''Skating'' is part of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection. She died on February 18, 1959, in Philadelphia, at the age of 94.

Gallery

File:A little maid of Massachusetts colony (1915) (14772695423).jpg, Illustration from ''A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony'' (1915) A little maid of Massachusetts colony (1915) (14749664091).jpg, Illustration from ''A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony'' (1915)

Bibliography

*''The Four Corners Abroad'' by

Amy Ella Blanchard Amy Ella Blanchard (June 28, 1854 – July 4, 1926) was a prolific American writer of children's literature. Early life Amy Ella Blanchard was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1854, the daughter of Daniel Harris Blanchard and Sarah Reynolds. She ...

, part of the Four Corners series, illustrated by Wuanita Smith (G.W. Jacobs, 1909)'' *At least three books from the Admiral's Granddaughter Series by Elizabeth Lincoln Gould **''The Admiral's Granddaughter'' (1907), illustrated by Wuanita Smith **''The Admiral's Little Housekeeper'' (1910), illustrated by Wuanita Smith, about the Beaumont family Christmas **''The Admiral's Little Secretary'' (1911), illustrated by Wuanita Smith *''The Little Runaways At Home'' (1912) by

Alice Turner Curtis Alice Turner Curtis (September 6, 1860 – July 10, 1958) was an American writer of juvenile historical fiction. She was probably best remembered by young readers of her day for ''The Little Maid's Historical Series'' (which comprises twenty-fou ...

*''A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony'' (1915) *''Oh, Virginia!'' (1920) by

Helen Sherman Griffith Helen Sherman Griffith (1873 - July 13, 1961) was an American author. An Iowan, she was the "prolific" author of the ''Letty Grey'' series of children's books, published by Penn Publishing Company of Philadelphia. She was the daughter of Hoyt ...

*''Brothers Grimm and other stories'' (1922) *''Grandpa's Little Girls and Their Friends'' (1925) by Alice Turner Curtis

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Wuanita 1866 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American women artists American illustrators American women illustrators Artists from Philadelphia American children's book illustrators 20th-century American painters Painters from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Philadelphia School of Design for Women alumni Drexel University alumni