A North Easter
Date1912
Artist
Jessie Gillespie
(American illustrator, 1888–1972)
Illustration CitationLife, March 6, 1913
MediumInk, gouache, and graphite on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 11 1/4 × 19 15/16 in. (28.6 × 50.6 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 1990
Object number1990-25
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextBorn in Brooklyn, New York, as Jessie Gillespie Willing, the artist was the daughter of the art editor for the Associated Sunday Magazine, a weekly supplement to many American newspapers. She used her middle name to avoid any suggestion of favoritism by her influential father. Her work appeared in Girl Scout publications as well as many magazines, especially Life. Gillespie's energetic and elegant graphic style - often, as here, a variant on the silhouette - often featured the up-to-date fashions that she illustrated as a Vogue cover artist. This satirical drawing suggests the impracticality of some sartorial choices. The title is a visual pun commenting on the results of Easter Sunday northeastern winds (or nor'easter storm). 
