by TRACY BONFITTO, CURATOR OF ART In 1937, WPA artist Elizabeth Olds (American, 1896–1991) persuaded “muckraking” investigative journalist Ida Tarbell to help her secure entrance to the Carnegie-Illinois steel mill. When Olds arrived with fellow artist Harry Gottlieb, skeptical mill workers required the artists to become union members in order… read more
Elizabeth Olds
Preparing Color Illustrations for Elizabeth Olds’s Deep Treasure (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958)
by TRACY BONFITTO, CURATOR OF ART The exhibition Public Works: Art by Elizabeth Olds features original illustrations and preparation art that were used in the creation of Olds’s children’s books. These important process materials are on loan from the Kerlan Collection of Children’s Literature at the University of Minnesota.
In the Galleries: Elizabeth Olds’s quest for honest American art
Elizabeth Olds (1896–1991) was the first woman visual artist to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1926 to advance her study of portraiture.