Title
Ocean Giant
Object Type
Creator
Date
1909
Notes
A project that brought John Elliott (Maud Howe Elliott's husband) popular acclaim was his illustrations for a book of fairy tales by Isabel Anderson (Mrs. Larz Anderson), The Great Sea Horse, in 1909. Maud and John Elliott had bought a house and spent summers at the Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire in the early part of the century. Here they gathered for work and festivities with Augustus St. Gaudens, Charles Platt, George de Forest Brush and Maxfield Parrish, among others. The influence of Parrish on Elliott is readily apparent in the illustrations for The Great Sea Horse (see book to the left).
The work for the book was carried out in Italy, as that was the place where John Elliott seemed to be able to work best. A critic wrote, "The illustrations fit the stories as music fits the words of a song. They have a feeling of Sicily; the supernal beauty of its seas and skies, the rocky isles, the flowers, the volcanoes, the pines, all the witchery of that earthly paradise is here, shut between the pages of a child's book." The drawings for The Great Sea Horse were exhibited at the Copley Gallery in Boston, Knoedler's in New York, and the Fischer Galleries in Washington. All were nearly sold, and in 1926 a calendar edition of the book was published.
The work for the book was carried out in Italy, as that was the place where John Elliott seemed to be able to work best. A critic wrote, "The illustrations fit the stories as music fits the words of a song. They have a feeling of Sicily; the supernal beauty of its seas and skies, the rocky isles, the flowers, the volcanoes, the pines, all the witchery of that earthly paradise is here, shut between the pages of a child's book." The drawings for The Great Sea Horse were exhibited at the Copley Gallery in Boston, Knoedler's in New York, and the Fischer Galleries in Washington. All were nearly sold, and in 1926 a calendar edition of the book was published.
Cultural Origin
Rome
Medium
Pastel and watercolor on blue paper
Extent
mat: 16 in x 20 in; image: 16 1/4 in x 10 1/4 in
Source
Gift of Ellicott Wright
Identifier
1991.025.001
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