Wanda Gág Day!
It’s that time of year again, the day to celebrate the birth of Wanda Gág: artist, writer, translator and free-spirited inspiration.
Yesterday I returned to her archives at the University of Minnesota where I finally was able to see the files which had been unavailable on my previous visits. There was a ton of material, including drawings, leftist magazines and numerous photographs.
First up is a panel from “Wanda in Wonderland”, a short-lived syndicated newspaper activity page for children (circa 1925):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv2eFSLpaVcf3c1CheeVF2P5MOdhq4Q2slqPiF4arBuSZsnENA7uZJgdQCIIYtNVnS3s2ImtjfjDDbgdkKLpfiCzQ2M_FVTlGW0-GahwF-ay2r66gCimqpAPP830Oi_jK60kKm/s640/SAM_6230.jpg)
Then I found this exquisite detail on a ‘puzzle box’ that Wanda had designed; the area pictured below was only about 3 inches wide:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLM4EyNem5JkeEK4WdfGtSszrujJZqRgNlh466uiQEU0SRkpgIVZJcByBA2gRVQyifRqojGXq1VFRS2T2oecQxOGw-3eBxtwBFLgZvhHLnyYatgdPOUWZqSxpYghp9V94reE5/s640/SAM_6179.jpg)
There was a 1918 glimpse of a young Wanda exploring a new “look” on the rooftop of her New York apartment, she hadn’t yet committed to her signature hairstyle:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w43PguJKTh7I8MnnnzB59_M3XkXInBhDX0RuS_csx3kdgkVnwW2ZMFKGxxtQBSTwve5kRonUe-N296uwMHnL9-lomV5u-gV2Y964sblrcE8oOWUxIbQQ8N5fuFy50apcEwdr/s640/SAM_6360.jpg)
Wanda Gág Lucile Lundquist
The next picture shows a different side of a much older Wanda, enjoying the company of fellow printmaking heavyweights (note that she’s sitting between two of her lovers), at a Rockwell Kent retrospective in 1939:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg38_s70jYnr2TfKx5wS8AiF4ck3mnqVBK4lvVRyyKMvjH0L4TGnLZEDzaKq8kesJsRAS8U75nB2-fnxdIqejClMtz_W8QUsngeQEizpxWjuabC3zNiAZhq4EIlPw0S-TIXjlq3/s640/SAM_6261.jpg)
Rockwell Kent Carl Zigrosser Wanda Gág Adolph Dehn
Happy 122nd Birthday Wanda!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhshb88Aa0fxFGTKukwj3TFmjJMCx8iMVbrCUcKPwAwdRzg1ntVoQE8DTHDBG7HFVV45Thn53C20sgvwV3pQLnzgLBgNN4e4PFEdefnblpbz1XyuEClhAi1SoYobhLkY6uFeOxy/s640/SAM_6363.jpg)
Photographs by Robert Janssen, excepting rooftop image
More on Wanda here…
UPDATE: Check out today’s installment from Brain Pickings, it’s not a coincidence…
2 Comments:-
Jono said...
-
-
Shoshanah Marohn said...
-
She doesn't look a day over 25. Happy Wanda's birthday Batty!
It's so cool to see a picture of "Mr. Dehn" who "just doesn't look like an Adolph."
Before seeing this, I wrote a post about Wanda Gag- scheduled for tomorrow. I came over here intending to link to one of your old posts about her, and look what I find! Uncanny. And I noticed Brainpickings, too! I've been out of it, doing final edits on my book, and the second I look up, I find everyone is thinking just what I'm thinking. I have about twenty pages left in Growing Pains. I don't want to finish it!
Post a Comment