Alice A. Carter

A beautiful book about turn-of-the-century illustrators Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott, and Violet Oakley, and their companion and housekeeper Henrietta Cozens, who lived together for many years at an estate near Philadelphia called The Red Rose Inn, and then at another called Cogslea. All three had studios on the property, and diligently worked in their profession, achieving considerable success. Their styles could be called post-Pre-Raphaelite--beautiful, romantic, idealistic, sentimental. The book is well-written and includes marvelous illustrations of their work, and many photographs of their young and beautiful persons. Of course, they came from privileged families; otherwise this kind of success would have been nigh impossible. Informed speculation suggests their intimacies were more than verbal and visual. A book to pull out on a rainy day.… (més)

Being the story of muralsi Violet Oakley and illustrators Jessie Smith and Elizabeth Green, who at the turn of the last century established an unconventional artists' colony in suburban Philadelphia. The book contains illustrations of their art, the various individuals, principally family members, with whom they lived, and, of course, themselves. Their art is reminiscent of other, somewhat better-remembered illustrators of the period such as Howard Pyle (with whom they studied), Maxfield Parrish, and Kate Greenaway, and will appeal to fans of that style. The author develops a thesis that, contrary to public belief, public tolerance of tribadism declined after the turn of the twentieth century, and terms wagging tongues and what would today be called paparazzi as contributing factors in the breakup of the colony after about a decade. As an art book, it is not outstanding by the high standards of publisher Abrams; the text is appealing because of the evident love of the author for her subject and the resulting minute observation of the lives of three artists who were most fascinating people.… (més)