Cover

Date1925

Artist Katharine Richardson Wireman (American illustrator and painter, 1878–1966)

Illustration CitationCover for Success, April 1926

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions20 1/4 × 16 1/4 in. (51.4 × 41.3 cm)
frame: 22 3/4 × 18 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (57.8 × 47.6 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Henrietta Wireman Shuttleworth, 2017

Object number2017-59

On View

On view

ClassificationsPAINTING

Label TextAccording to the artist's daughter Henrietta, who modeled for the work while wearing her own costume, Katharine Richardson Wireman created this painting in April, 1925, intending it as a Halloween cover. The cover was not published. However, the next year, the design worked just as well for an April Fool's Day cover on Success, as the little girl -- having fooled her dog -- delights in revealing her identity.

Many years later Henrietta recalled that "I remember being afraid of the neighbor's dog...so my mother had to sketch him separately." Such practicalities governed the life of an illustrator. The dog's availability may be accounted for by the rising popularity of the Boston Terrier in the mid-1920s. By 1929, it was the nation's most-owned dog, a position it held until 1934. Such familiar images were beloved by readers, who - as art editors knew - responded to scenes reminiscent of their own lives.