Jessie Willcox Smith (American, 1863-1935) A Game of Checkers, Collier's magazine cover, January 1906 Mixed media on board 19 x 15-1/2 inches (48.3 x 39.4 cm) (image) Signed lower left: JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH Jessie Willcox Smith was an American illustrator renowned for her tender and nostalgic depictions of children in magazines such as Good Housekeeping and The Ladies' Home Journal. Formally trained under Howard Pyle, the artist was an integral member of the Red Rose Girls. This was a revolutionary group of working female artists from Philadelphia who set standards for excellence in Romantic Realism and challenged cultural norms for women with their visible success and independence. In the present work, A Game of Checkers, Smith plays with negative space, evoking contemporaries like Maxfield Parrish and Coles Phillips. By carefully controlling areas of emptiness, she emphasizes form, expression, and storytelling, ensuring her subjects remained the focal point while evoking a sense of warmth and intimacy. It is a rare treat to see Jessie Willcox Smith exploring like this, while retaining her unparalleled gift for evoking the inner life of children. The present work is accompanied a copy of the January 1906 Collier's magazine and appears as a color plate in Thirty Favorite Paintings by Leading American Artists (P.F. Collier & Son, 1908). HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice