Adelaide Hiebel (1885–1965) was an artist and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

who worked for the Gerlach Barklow Co. in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County, Illinois, Will County. It had a population of ...

, a manufacturer of art calendars. Hiebel preferred to work in

pastels A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

, and was known for her photographic detail and portraits of women, especially "women and dogs, mothers with infants, infant portraits and small children in cute situations."

Biography

Adelaide Hiebel was born in

New Hope, Wisconsin New Hope is a town in Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 736 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of New Hope, Garfield, and Peru are located in the town. Geography According to the United States Census Bu ...

in 1885. She studied at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

with Zula Kenyon, and taught art at Oshkosh College in 1916. Zula Kenyon recommended her for work at Gerlach Barklow Co. She moved to Joliet, Illinois to work with the company in 1918, and was given the opportunity to work from a home studio. Gerlach Barklow calendars were purchased by businesses to be given to their important customers as gifts. Many of the company's artists were women, or local residents. In Joliet Hiebel lived with her husband, who was involved in the "liquor trade", and met an untimely death. Adelaide Hiebel was known for her large parties, which attracted nationally known artists, and were financed by her earnings of as much as $10,000 per painting. Fifty of Hiebel's documented works survive. A brother, Ben, also worked for Gerlach Barklow. A sister died when she was young. "Adelaide always said her sister was an angel who sat on her shoulder and guided her work." Hiebel's most famous work was a pastel of Lois Delander, Miss America 1927, wearing a white bathing suit. She moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to retire in 1955, and died in 1965 in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

Biography

References

Further reading