Cover Design for The Saturday Evening Post, unpublished; self portrait
Datenot dated
Artist
Bertha Corson Day
(American painter and illustrator, 1875–1968)
Illustration CitationDesign for cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Not published
MediumCrayon and gouache on illustration board
Dimensions12 5/16 x 11 5/16 in. (31.3 x 28.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Marshall Cole, 1982
Object number1982-54
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis card-playing young woman typifies the "pretty girl at leisure" theme that was popular on magazine covers. Editors believed that women, who were primary magazine buyers, would see themselves in the image - as they were, or would like to be. According to the artist's family, this was a self-portrait. Although this study for a cover of The Saturday Evening Post was not published, Bertha Corson Day created many illustrations for a variety of magazines. After her marriage in 1902, she produced less commercial illustration, concentrating on playbills for regional theater groups, bookplates, and her own painting in oil and watercolor.
