Peggy Bacon

American painter, printmaker, author, 1895–1987

BiographyPeggy Bacon was an American artist best known for her humorous prints and caricatures of the 1920s and 1930s. The child of two artists who met at the Art Students League of New York, Bacon had an unconventional childhood; traveling with tutors and only studying what interested her. Her parents encouraged her interest in art, and as a young woman she attended the Art Students League where she studied with Kenneth Hayes Miller, John Sloan, and George Bellows. There she encountered a vibrant group of young students, including Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Andrew Dasburg, and Betty Burroughs and settled into an artist's life. She married Alexander Brook, and they divided time between Greenwich Village and Woodstock, New York, two artistic centers in the early 20th century. Although she was a prolific painter, Bacon garnered the most attention for her illustrations, etchings, and caricatures. She illustrated 60 books (19 of which she wrote) and had over 30 solo exhibitions during her career.

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