Cover
Date1930
Artist
Ellen Bernard Thompson Pyle
(American illustrator, 1876–1936)
Illustration CitationThe Saturday Evening Post, December 12, 1930.
MediumOil on illustration board
Dimensions27 1/2 x 21 1/4 in. (69.9 x 54 cm)
frame: 33 × 27 1/4 in. (83.8 × 69.2 cm)
frame: 33 × 27 1/4 in. (83.8 × 69.2 cm)
Credit LineLouisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund, 1938
Object number1938-132
On View
On viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextDuring her studies with Howard Pyle, Ellen Bernard Thompson met his brother Walter. The couple later married and lived in Wilmington. In the 1920s and '30s, she sometimes used Wilmingtonians as models in her cover designs for The Saturday Evening Post. The grandmotherly figure here was the artist's former neighbor Kate McCarthy of West 18th Street. The model for the boy was Gerald Brinton, also a Wilmington resident. As is typical for many Saturday Evening Post covers, this anecdotal scene allows viewers to weave their own narrative about family characters and winter weather. Editors knew that familiarity was key in attracting magazine buyers, and domestic situations were predictably popular.
