Bessie Pease Gutmann was born Bessie Collins Pease in Philadelphia in 1876 and spent most of her childhood in Mount Holly, New Jersey. She lived during the Golden Age of Illustration which ran from 1890 -1925. Illustration was one of the few fields accessible to women artists during this period of time and Gutmann became known as one of the foremost women illustrators.
Gutmann was formally trained at the prestigious Philadelphia School of Design for women in 1893. She was part of a long list of accomplished alumni including Jessie Wilcox Smith, Charlotte Harding Brown, Gertrude Alice Kay, and Harriet Sartain. Among the faculty was Alice Barber Stephens who greatly influenced Gutmann's work.
Self-portrait
Perhaps best known for her heartwarming art prints featuring innocent children during the early part of the twentieth century, Bessie Pease Gutmann achieved worldwide fame. Through licensing, Gutmann, who was born in 1876, is still greatly admired today by collectors everywhere.
Beginning withBOOK
and magazine illustrations, Gutmann's art received its widest circulation in the artist's day through fine art prints. These hand-colored prints graced homes throughout America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Gutmann's heyday was in the 1920s and 1930s, but the cruelties of World War II brought an age of innocence quickly to an end, and a decline to Gutmann's popularity. A shortage of good quality paper and adequate labor during the war also hindered production. By 1947, Gutmann decided to stop producing art, after almost fifty years and over six hundred art prints to her credit, because of failing eyesight.
While Gutmann died on September 29, 1960 in Centerport, New York her prints remain among the all-time best sellers. Her winning art prints of endearing children are still as admired as ever and, with the recent formation of a national organization to promote her art, should be for a long time to come.
Gutmann was formally trained at the prestigious Philadelphia School of Design for women in 1893. She was part of a long list of accomplished alumni including Jessie Wilcox Smith, Charlotte Harding Brown, Gertrude Alice Kay, and Harriet Sartain. Among the faculty was Alice Barber Stephens who greatly influenced Gutmann's work.
Self-portrait
Perhaps best known for her heartwarming art prints featuring innocent children during the early part of the twentieth century, Bessie Pease Gutmann achieved worldwide fame. Through licensing, Gutmann, who was born in 1876, is still greatly admired today by collectors everywhere.
Beginning withBOOK
and magazine illustrations, Gutmann's art received its widest circulation in the artist's day through fine art prints. These hand-colored prints graced homes throughout America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Gutmann's heyday was in the 1920s and 1930s, but the cruelties of World War II brought an age of innocence quickly to an end, and a decline to Gutmann's popularity. A shortage of good quality paper and adequate labor during the war also hindered production. By 1947, Gutmann decided to stop producing art, after almost fifty years and over six hundred art prints to her credit, because of failing eyesight.While Gutmann died on September 29, 1960 in Centerport, New York her prints remain among the all-time best sellers. Her winning art prints of endearing children are still as admired as ever and, with the recent formation of a national organization to promote her art, should be for a long time to come.
In 1906, Gutmann married Hellmuth Gutmann, one of the brothers who co-owned the publishing firm where she was employed. The couple had three children, Alice, Lucille, and John, who became the models for Gutmann's illustrations.
Gutmann died on September 29, 1960 in Centerport, New York at the age of 84
A page illustration from the 1907 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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