Shoshana Gray Wanda Gag Born March 11 1893 Bohemian heritage Raised in New Ulm MN Anton Gag father artist dies in 1908 Elisabeth mother dies in 1917 Wanda dies June 27 1946 of cancer ID: 583751
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Slide1
Wanda Gag
Shoshana GraySlide2
Wanda Gag
Born March 11, 1893
Bohemian heritage
Raised in New Ulm, MN
Anton Gag, father, artist, dies in 1908
Elisabeth, mother dies in 1917Wanda dies June 27, 1946 of cancer
Text Source:
WinnanSlide3
Background
Wanda Gag grew up in a very creative, non-traditional household in which all of her siblings, six sisters and one brother, drew and sang. In fact Wanda and her siblings “…were amazed to learn that there were people who did not draw.”
Her father was a creative decorator who painted churches and commercial buildings. On his deathbed, his last words to Wanda were: “‘What Papa couldn’t do, Wanda will have to finish.’” Wanda took this directive seriously and was driven to stay true to her art above all else.
For years Wanda had the burden of caring for her siblings due to the early death of her parents. However, she never forgot or neglected her art. In fact, she helped raise money for the family by selling poems, stories and drawings to the
Junior Journal
.
Text Source:
Winnan
2-3Slide4
Art Education1913-14 – St. Paul School of Art
1915-16 – Minneapolis School of Art1917-18 – Art Students League, New YorkPrimarily Influenced by:
Van Gough
Cezzane
Text Source:
Winnan
Wanda had lifelong friends who helped her to pursue her education in art and were instrumental in getting her work exhibited and known.Slide5
Wanda Gag’s Art
Much of Gag’s work includes landscapes and still life drawings. She preferred drawing objects and nature to drawing people, and only worked in fashion and graphic art when she was desperate to earn money for her family.
Text Source:
Winnan
15, 32
Gag had a theory about the energy of atmosphere surrounding objects and tried to represent it.
“Visualization of flowing energy is present in many of [her] drawings…”Slide6
Wanda Gag’s Invention
She invented cost-effective art materials, the most notable of which was painting on sandpaper. “As a support, sandpaper has the ability to alter the perception of light across the grains of sand, casting faint shadows in even directions.”
Beans sprouting
watercolor on fine sandpaper.
Text Source: Winnan 15Slide7
Rising to Success
After several exhibits of her work at Weyhe Gallery in New York, she was becoming
well-known.
Ernestine Evans, an editor at Coward-McCann,
Inc. attended Gag’s 1928 exhibit. Once she discovered Gag had children’s illustrations in her portfolio, she offered her the opportunity to write and illustrate a children’s book.
Gag wrote and illustrated
Millions of Cats,
for which she is
still best-known.
Source: WinnanSlide8
Millions of Cats
Wanda had invented the story years earlier to entertain the children of her friend. “Millions of Cats
” received an enthusiastic response from both reviewers and the public.” Anne Carroll Moore wrote in a review for
Book Dial:
“…a genuine picture book…convincing alike to the young or old of any nation.”
Gag reported in her diary sales of 15,000 copies.
Source: Winnan 36-7
After the publication of
Millions of Cats
, for the first time in her life, Wanda was financially secure.Slide9
Millions of Cats – Double-page Spread
This technique is still copied to this day and has done much to add to the aesthetically pleasing appearance of children’s books, as well as the engagement of children as they read.
“Gag pioneered the format of composing each opening of the book (two facing pages) as one unique design, integrating the illustrations and the text.”
Text Source: Winnan 37Slide10
Millions of Cats – Folktale Elements
Karen Nelson Hoyle claims that “Gag…instinctively used a folktale pattern in her own stories…Millions of Cats conformed to the thirteen rules espoused by [Danish folklorist Axel]
Olrik
.
Among the thirteen rules are:
“The story progresses from calm to excitement, then recedes”
In the story the couple talk of a wanting a cat. This is followed by the tumult of millions of cats fighting each other, which finally ends in domestic quietude and happiness.
The “‘Law of Repetition’”
“Cats here, cats there, Cats and kittens everywhere, Hundreds of cats, Thousands of Cats, Millions and billions and
trillons
of cats.
Text Source: Hoyle 1-2Slide11
Legacy
The double-page spread is the biggest legacy left by Wanda Gag’s
Millions of Cats
. Basically, any children’s book with a double-page spread owes a debt of gratitude to Gag
.
The double-page spread is
very common today, so there are far to many to list, but s
ome
notable ones are:Maurice Sendak’s
Where the Wild Things AreRobert McClosky’s
Make Way for Ducklings
Virginia Lee Burton’s
The Little House
Ezra Jack Keats’
The Snowy Day
The University of Minnesota Press reissued Gag’s canon of work as part of the
Fesler-Lampert
Minnesota
Hertitage
Book Series.
Source: CrawfordSlide12
Wanda Gag’s Works
WORKS WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY WANDA GAGMillions of Cats. New York: Coward McCann, 1928; London: Faber and Faber, 1929.The Funny Thing
. New York: Coward McCann, 1929; London: Faber and Faber, 1962.
Snippy and Snappy
. New York: Coward McCann, 1931; London: Faber and Faber, 1932.
Wanda Gág's Story Book. New York: Coward McCann, 1932.
The ABC Bunny.
New York: Coward McCann, 1933; London: Faber and Faber, 1962.
Gone Is Gone; or, The Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework. New York: Coward McCann, 1935; London: Faber and Faber, 1936.
Tales from Grimm. New York: Coward McCann, 1936; London: Faber and Faber, 1937.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. New York: Coward McCann, 1938; London: Faber and Faber, 1938.
Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908-1917.
New York: Coward McCann, 1940; St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1984.
Nothing at All.
New York: Coward McCann, 1941; London: Faber and Faber, 1942.
Three Gay Tales from Grimm.
New York: Coward McCann, 1943; London: Heinemann, 1946.
More Tales from Grimm.
New York: Coward McCann, 1947; London, Faber and Faber, 1962.
Text Source: Taken directly from Hoyle 6Slide13
Text Resources
Crawford, Philip Charles. “Of Sandpaper, Fairy Tales, Feminism, and Housework.” Knowledge Quest. 2006. 32.2. Wilson Web. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.Hoyle, Karen Nelson. “Wanda (Hazel) Gag.”
Writers for Children: Critical Studies of Major Authors Since the Seventeenth Century.
Ed. Jane M. Bingham. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1987.
Literature Resource Center
. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.Winnan, Audur
H.
Wanda Gag.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.Slide14
Image Citations
Slide 1 - en.wikipedia.orgSlide 2 - Winnan book (see Text Resources)Slide 3 - http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/03gag.html
Slide 4 –
Winnan
book (see Text Resources)
Slide 5 – Image top - http://www.carleton.edu/campus/gallery/exhibitions/2003/american_scenes/
Slide 5 – Image bottom -
http://www.consignworks.com/images/gag1.jpg
Slide 6 - http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/thumbnails/t55920.jpg
Slide 7 - http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/33029173_c2889f6d1a.jpg?v=0Slide 8 - http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2007/11/29/207/poetic_justice_archives_pay_off_for_some_pack_rats
Slide 9 – Image top –
http://www.ils.unc.edu/~prier/KidLit/
Slide 9 – Image bottom -
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/nagah003/digital/millions100.jpg
Slide 11 -
http://www.mnhs.org/school/historyplayers/core/images/wanda_002.jpg