Elizabeth Olds (December 10, 1896 – March 4, 1991) was an American artist known for her work in developing

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke" ...

as a fine arts medium. She was a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

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 ...

, but is primarily known as a

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

, using silkscreen,

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

processes. In 1926, she became the first woman honored with the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

."Elizabeth Olds"
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 2015-05-10. "As published in the Foundation's Report for 1926–27." She studied under

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

, was a

Social Realist Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

, and worked for the

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal work-relief program that employed professional artists to create sculptures, paintings, crafts and design for public buildings and parks during the Great Depression in the United States. The ...

and

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administratio ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In her later career, Olds wrote and illustrated six children's books."Emmett Hudspeth: A Preliminary Inventory of His Collection of Elizabeth Olds at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center"
University of Texas (hrc.utexas.edu). Retrieved 2014-09-18.

Early life and education

Olds was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

to a middle-class family. Olds's mother was an art historian, and her mother exposed Olds and her sister, Eleanor, to art through visits to the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

and

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

. Olds's art was first documented in her high school yearbook, featuring a cartoon sketch of a goose at tea. She studied

Home Economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

and

Architectural Drawing An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building (or building project) that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to deve ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

from 1916-1918, and received a scholarship to study at the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

from 1918-1921. In 1921, Olds received another scholarship to study at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

where she studied under

Career

Early works

The early style of Olds reflects Luks's influence on her art. The pair experimented with the style and themes of the

Ashcan school The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. T ...

, visiting the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of New York to observe the lives of urban immigrants. During the summers of 1923-1925, Olds was invited to the circles of The Roots and their friends and the Percy Saunders of

Clinton, New York Clinton, New York may refer to: *Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Dutchess County, New York *Clinton, Oneida County, New York * Clinton, Manhattan, or Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in New York City *East Greenb ...

. In 1925, with the help of

Elihu Root Elihu Root (; February 15, 1845February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer, Republican Party (United States), Republican politician, and statesman who served as the 41st United States Secretary of War under presidents William McKinley and Theodor ...

and some bankers, Olds was funded to travel to France. While in France, she observed and sketched the famous circus family, the

Fratellini family The Fratellini family was a famous European circus family in the late 1910s and 1920s. An engagement at the Circus Medrano in Paris, France, after World War I was so successful that it sparked a strong resurgence of interest in the circus. By 1 ...

, and their show, “Cirque d’Hiver.” Olds later joined the troupe as a trick bareback rider. In 1926, Olds became the first woman awarded the

, and was granted further travel in Europe.

Great Depression

Olds was fairly sheltered from the

when she returned to the U.S. in 1929. In 1932, Olds viewed

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...

’s nearly finished murals at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, and was inspired by his expressive use of form and political themes. The same year, she moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

to paint portraits of the family of Samuel Rees, a local industrialist. Olds completed the project, but she became frustrated with the monotony of painting portraits. At the same time Olds was studying the basics of lithography at Rees's printing business. From 1933-1934, Olds was invited to join the

(PWAP) in Omaha. Under the PWAP, Olds created a series of lithographs featuring the bread lines, shelters, and clinics of the Great Depression. Olds’s break from portraiture was fruitful as she developed her style and content, which like Orozco’s murals, used broad, expressive lines and portrayed political themes. Later, Olds studied at a meat packing plant, which inspired her ‘'Stockyard Series’’. "Sheep Skinners," one of the ten black-and-white lithographs, was exhibited in 1935 in the

Weyhe Gallery Weyhe Gallery, established in 1919 in New York City, is an art gallery specializing in prints. It is now located in Mount Desert, Maine. History Erhard Weyhe (1883–1972) established the Weyhe Gallery in 1919. He also operated a bookstore, the ...

in New York as one of the “Fifty Best Prints of the Year.” From 1935 until the early 1940s, Olds was a nonrelief employee for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA-FAP) in the Graphic Arts Division in New York, where she helped younger artists in the

unit. She also joined the American Artists’ Congress,

Artists Union The Artists Union or Artists' Union was a short-lived union of artists in New York in the years of the Great Depression. It was influential in the establishment of both the Public Works of Art Project in December 1933 and the Federal Art Proje ...

, and other groups with similar interests. Olds became friends with

Harry Gottlieb Harry Gottlieb (September 23, 1895 – July 4, 1992) was an American painter, screen printer, lithographer, and educator. Biography Gottlieb was born in Bucharest, Romania on September 23, 1895. He immigrated to America in 1907, and his family s ...

, another nonrelief artist who also focused on

industrialism Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

. Together, they observed the mining and steel industries of New York, and their research lead to Olds's creation of her award-winning print, "Miner Joe." Olds used both silkscreen and lithography for the prints for ‘‘Miner Joe,’’ but it was her lithograph that won first place for the Philadelphia Print Club competition in 1938. Olds and Gottlieb experimented with silkscreen printing as a fine arts medium.Watrous, James. ''American Printmaking: A Century of American Printmaking, 1880-1980.'' Madison: UP Art College of Wisconsin, 1984. p:107 They accomplished this with a few other artists in the silkscreen unit of the Graphic Arts Division of the WPA-FAP in New York.

Carl Zigrosser Carl Zigrosser (1891–1975) was an art dealer best known for founding and running the New York Weyhe Gallery in the 1920s and 1930s, and as Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art between 1940 and 1963. In the 1910s, ...

, who was curator of prints and drawings at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

from 1940 through 1963, wrote from the vantage point of 1941 that: "The first serigraph actually made on the newly organized (WPA) New York Silk Screen Project was ''The Concert'' by Olds. . . .She is an accomplished graphic artist and has made a considerable number of serigraphs outside the Project, in addition to her long experience in lithography." From 1939 until 1941, Olds and Gottlieb opened and ran the independent Silk Screen School for students interested in learning the newest printmaking technologies.Langa, Helen. ''Radical Art: Printmaking and the Left in 1930s New York.'' Oakland: UC Press, 2004. p:32 Her work was included in the 1940

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

show ''American Color Prints Under $10''. The show was organized as a vehicle for bringing affordable fine

art print Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

s to the general public. Olds submitted and reproduced 10 prints in ''

The New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It was the successor to both '' The Masses'' (1911–1917) and ''The Liberator'' (1918–1924). ''New Masses'' was later merge ...

'' in 1936 and 1937, a

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

magazine at the time. In the United American Artists under the Public Use of Art Committee, Olds and other artists worked to produce murals along

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

walls, but the murals were never installed. Olds’s art reflected her leftist political views, but also her social and political awareness at the time. As a WPA-FAP employee, Olds’s prints were intended to go to the government for their purposes, but she selectively sent her leftist prints to George C. Miller, an independent lithographer.

Later works

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Olds redirected her skills and began experimenting with

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

, and

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page or image is creat ...

. Her silk screen, "Three Alarm Fire" (1945), prompted Roberta Fansler to suggest that Olds should illustrate children's books. From 1945-1963, Olds wrote and illustrated six children's books. In three of her books, Olds wrote about firefighters, trains, and oil, educating her readers about industrialism. In the early 1950s, Olds was hired as an illustrator-reporter for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'' and ''

Fortune (magazine) ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...

''. In the summers of the 1950s and 1960s, Olds was awarded

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

positions at the artists’ colonies of

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

near

Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...

in New York and McDowell in

Peterborough, New Hampshire Peterborough is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,418 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The main village, with 3,090 people at the ...

."Elizabeth Olds (1896–1991)"
Ask/Art (askart.com). Retrieved 2014-09-18. With short biography: unrestricted access to the first 500 of 1829 characters; accessible freely to anyone every Friday. Her papers are held at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

Children's books

Olds wrote and illustrated six children's

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

. The books published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

were created using lithography, and the books published by

Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjo ...

were created using woodblocks. ''

Feather Mountain Feather Mountain () is one of many important mythological mountains in Chinese mythology, particularly associated with the Great Flood. According to the mythological studies of Lihui Yang, Gun was executed on the "outskirts" of Feather Mountain b ...

'', published by

in 1951, was a runner-up for the annual American Library Association

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

, which recognizes "the most distinguished American picture book for children." * ''The Big Fire'' (

, 1945), * ''Riding the Rails'' (HM, 1948), * ''Feather Mountain'' (HM, 1951), * ''Deep Treasure: the story of oil'' (HM, 1958), * ''Plop plop Ploppie'' (

, 1962), * ''Little Una'' (Scribner's, 1963),

Personal life and retirement

Olds never married. She had close friendships with

Berenice Abbott Berenice Alice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991) was an American photographer best known for her portraits of cultural figures of the interwar period, New York City photographs of architecture and urban design of the 1930s, and science ...

, and Elizabeth McCausland. In 1972, Olds retired to

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

where she worked until her death in 1991.

Awards and exhibitions

* 1934: "The Dying Gangster," lithograph, wins silver at the Kansas City Art Institute. * 1935: "Sheep Skinners" exhibits in the “Fifty Best Prints of the Year” at the Weyhe Gallery in New York. * 1936: "Bootleg Coal, Pennsylvania" is reproduced in the book version of the Artists’ Congress exhibition “America Today: One Hundred Prints.” * 1937: One-person exhibit of her steel mill drawings at the A.C.A. Gallery. * 1938: "Miner Joe," lithograph, wins first place in the Philadelphia Print Club competition. * 1939: "The Middle Class," lithograph, wins first place in the Philadelphia Art Alliance competition. * 1941, 1950, 1955, & 1960 solo shows with the A.C.A. Gallery. * 1969: Solo exhibition at the Staten Island Museum. * 1986: ''Elizabeth Olds, Retrospective Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, Prints'', RGK Foundation, Austin.Arthur, Susan E. and Kenneth Wade Prescott. ''Elizabeth Olds, Retrospective Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, Prints.'' Austin: RGK Foundation, 1986. * 1992: Exhibition at the Live Oak Art Center, Columbus, Texas. * 2024: ''Public Works: Art by Elizabeth Olds'', a retrospective exhibit of more than 100 prints, paintings, drawings, and illustrations from the 1920s to the 1960s,

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

References

External links

Comrades In Art / Revolutionary Art In America 1926 - 1938 / A Narrated Online Exhibition created by Francis Booth
— top page only at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

, with exhibition Catalog (PDF.zip, 90 MB)
Elizabeth Olds: Rights and Restrictions Information
at the Library of Congress * (some under 'Olds, Elizabeth, 1897–') *Harrison, Helen A. ''7 American Women, the Depression Decade: Rosalind Bengelsdorf, Lucienne Bloch, Minna Citron, Marlon Greenwood, Doris Lee, Elizabeth Olds, Concetta Scaravaglione.'' Poughkeepsie: Vassar College Art Gallery, 1976.

at Illinois State Museum Collections Online – with short biography *''WPA/FAP Graphics.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1976. {{DEFAULTSORT:Olds, Elizabeth 1896 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American printmakers American children's book illustrators American children's writers American women children's book illustrators American women children's writers American women printmakers Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from Minneapolis Federal Art Project artists Public Works of Art Project artists University of Minnesota alumni 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters Ashcan School people The New Republic people Fortune (magazine) people