With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Dorothy Lathrop
Children's Literature
1891 – 1980
Dorothy Lathrop was a renowned illustrator and recipient of the first Caldecott Medal in 1938, for her illustrations for Helen Dean Fish’s “Animals of the Bible, A Picture Book.” In addition to illustrating for others Lathrop wrote thirteen childrens books.
- Biography/Description of Work
Dorothy and her sister Gertrude (1896-1986) Lathrop were born in New York to an artistic mother. Their father did not believe that art could support a living, so Dorothy attended Columbia College for three years earning a teaching degree, and studied illustration at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for a year. Two years after graduation, she taught art classes at Albany High School before giving up teaching to illustrate full-time. She began illustrating for children’s book authors before becoming one herself. She illustrated over thirty books during her life, and wrote/illustrated 13 of her own. Setting her work apart from that of many of her contemporaries, she drew life like images of animals for children. During the 1950s Dorothy and Gertrude purchased Ezra Winter’s home where they lived and worked until their deaths.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_P._Lathrop, http://50watts.com/Forgotten-Illustrator-Dorothy-P-Lathrop, http://www.bpib.com/lathrop.htm, http://www.bpib.com/dlathrop.htm, http://artofnarrative.blogspot.com/2012/01/dorothy-lathrop-little-boy-lost-1920.html, http://dorothylathrop.blogspot.com/, http://www.ortakales.com/illustrators/lathrop.html, http://www.bpib.com/glathrop.htm
Dorothy Lathrop Obituary - New York Times - 1981-1-8, Ezra Winter - Winterhouse_2011-2 - Associated Resource(s)