The Dream of the Toy
Date1898
Artist
Katharine Pyle
(American painter, illustrator, and author, 1863–1938)
Illustration Citation"The Dream of the Toy," by Katharine Pyle, St. Nicholas, December 1898
MediumInk on illustration board
Dimensionscomposition: 4 13/16 × 9 5/16 in. (12.2 × 23.7 cm)
sheet: 15 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (38.7 × 31.8 cm)
sheet: 15 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (38.7 × 31.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Willard S. Morse
Object number1900-99
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis drawing accompanied a poem by Katharine Pyle in the Christmas issue of the children's magazine St. Nicholas.The youngest child of the Pyle family, Katharine was prolific as both author and illustrator. At the turn of the twentieth century, many considered art an appropriate extension of women's "natural" talent for beautifying their surroundings, but there was still resistance to women as professional artists. The artist and illustrator Joseph Pennell offered Katharine Pyle as an example of why there was "no earthly reason why women should not be illustrators."
