Rosekrans Hoffman

Ruth Olive Rosekrans was born at her parents’ home on 7 January 1926 in Denton, Nebraska. She was the second child of James Charles, a contractor, and Pearl D Rosekrans, née Hocking.

She began drawing at the age of three or four.{{cite web |url=https://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public_html/html/research/findaids/hoffman.htm |title=Rosekrans Hoffman Papers |author= |website=www.lib.usm.edu |access-date=2022-03-03}} When she was seven she contracted osteomyelitis, a bone infection only treatable at that time by painful bone drains. She had to stay in a full body cast, with only her arms and hands free, for 18 months. It was during this period that she began to develop her artistic abilities. She began by copying newspaper comic strips from the Lincoln Star newspaper{{cite web |url=https://dentonchs.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/ruth-rosekrans-hoffman/ |title=Ruth Rosekrans Hoffman |author=Sue Williams |website=dentonchs.wordpress.com |date=10 August 2018 |access-date=2022-03-03}} including Tillie the Toiler, Dick Tracy, Mutt and Jeff and Popeye.

She said the experience “gave me a new perspective on life… in bed in the body cast, horizontal, I saw things I wouldn’t ordinarily see. I wasn’t a child looking up, but more like a part of the land. From my prone position, I used to eye my food like an explorer surveying the horizon. Piles of mashed potatoes took on the proportions of mountains against the skyline. Undersides of chins, nostrils, palms jumped out at me. I studied expressions, the details of wallpaper, and tiny hairs peeking out of people’s ears.”{{cite news |date=1981-10-13 |newspaper= Lincoln Journal Star |title=Native Nebraskan draws on 'peculiar' perspective |author=Patty Beutler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/310735383/?terms=rosekrans%20hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=8}}

She would spend many more months in partial casts, a wheelchair, and homemade braces that her father invented to enable her to become more mobile.{{cite web |url=http://nebraskawriters.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-artists-vision-rosekrans-hoffman.html |author=Stephen Cloyd |title=A Book Artist's Vision: Rosekrans Hoffman--A New Display in the Heritage Room |website=www.nebraskawriters.blogspot.com |date=24 August 2010 |access-date=2022-03-03}} She used a walking stick for the rest of her life.

She recovered sufficiently to attend Denton School District 136,{{cite web |url=https://dentonchs.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/ruth-rosekrans-hoffman/ |website=dentonchs.wordpress.com |title=Ruth Rosekrans Hoffman |author=Sue Williams |date=10 August 2018 |access-date=2022-03-03}} graduating from Denton High School in 1945. She studied art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was “strongly influenced” by her teacher, the muralist and painter Kady Faulkner.{{cite book |date=1979 |title=Something About The Author |edition=Volume 3 |publisher= Gale Research |page=133 |location= Detroit, Michigan |isbn=0810300966}} She was a member of Delta Phi Delta, a national art honorary society.{{cite news |date=1955-08-03 |newspaper=The Lincoln Star |title=A wedding in New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/310500189/?terms=%22Lincoln%20Star%22%20hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=10}} She gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1948, after which she took graduate work at Penn State.

In 1949 she married Mervyn L Cadwallader{{cite web |url=https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ruth-rosekrans-hoffman-original-mcm-1900880218 |title=Ruth Rosekrans Hoffman Original MCM 1952 Abstract Painting New York Nebraska |author= |website=www.worthpoint.com |access-date=2022-03-03}} in Lancaster, Nebraska. They moved to California so that he could complete his PhD in history at the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite news |date=1949-07-30 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Mrs Mervyn Cadwallader |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/310331204/?article=83463aa4-b8a5-415d-b21e-a0f9ea4c35af&focus=0.2627023,0.021996977,0.49599686,0.3357057&xid=3398&_ga=2.43367335.323418082.1647393813-427546381.1623486874|location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=3}} She spent her time painting, and studying with Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker Yasuo Kuniyoshi.{{cite news |date=1978-07-30 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |author=Helen Haggie |title=NU training was best, illustrator says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311136629/?terms=Rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=79}} In 1952 they were living on Hall Street, Brooklyn, New York.{{cite book |date=1979 |last1=Alexander |first1=JoAnn Kelly |editor-last1=Kelly |editor-first1=Brooks John |title=My life in art – the Dwight Kirsch Biography |publisher= Gale Research |page=133 |location= Detroit, Michigan}}

By 1955 she and Cadwallader had divorced and she married Robert Hoffman in New York City. They bonded over a shared love of jazz.{{cite web |url=https://mona.unk.edu/mona/ruth-olive-rosekrans-hoffman/ |title=Ruth Olive Rosekrans Hoffman |author= |website=mona.unk.edu |date=20 March 2017 |access-date=2022-03-03}} During this period she wrote “a lot of letters” to the City Council encouraging them to make buildings more accessible. About this endeavor she said, “So many buildings were built without access by ramp or rail for the handicapped. I think it was the feeling of those times that the handicapped should be put away out of sight.” In an interview from 1978 she "takes credit" for initiating a change in the city's views on accessibility.

In the early 1970s they built a home in West Haven, Connecticut which they shared with a pet cat, Boy, who appeared in many of her illustrations.

After Robert's retirement in 1991 they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska{{cite news |date=1991-02-09 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Read it Sunday in the Lincoln Star Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/312524717/?terms=Rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=1}} where she became active in local community life. She was a member of Denton Community Historical Society (DCHS),{{cite magazine |date=January 2008 |title=Obituaries |magazine=Tales and Trails |location=Denton, Nebraska |edition=Vol. 10 No. 2 |publisher=Denton Community Historical Society Company |page=7}} and a supporter of the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association,{{cite news |date=2001-05-29 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Literary Heritage Award: Ruth Rosekrans Hoffman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/297714203/?terms=literary%20heritage%20award%20rosekrans%20hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=13}} the Junior League of Lincoln, Lincoln City Public Library's Heritage Room and the University Place Art Center (now Lux Center for the Arts).

When Robert died in 1999, she moved to a nursing home in David City, Nebraska.

She held several art-related jobs before becoming a full-time illustrator of children's books. She worked as an artist for Balco Research Inc. in Newark, New Jersey, in New York's City Planning Office{{cite web |url= https://nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/2E977E03-BD4B-4B88-AEC1-794983227630|author= |website=www.nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com |title=Object record|access-date=2022-03-03}} and for Addison Wesley Publishing Co.

Her paintings were exhibited at the Whitney Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. She stopped painting around 1972 to focus on drawing. One reason for the change was the physical exertion required to stand for long periods.

She became a full time artist in 1972, working under the name Rosekrans Hoffman, because “it’s simpler”.{{cite news |date=1980-03-23 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |author=Linda Ulrich |title=Artist's world is safe for kids |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/312453930/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=50}} Her agent was Helen Wohlberg of Kirchoff/Wohlberg Inc. New York.{{cite book |date=1987 |title=American Illustration Showcase Vol. 10 |publisher=American Showcase Inc. |last=Shapiro |first=Ira |location=New York |page=752 |isbn= 0931144426}}

Hoffman was always careful to say that she was an artist, and not an illustrator. To her, this meant that the integrity of her artistic vision came first. She spent little time looking at others’ books for children, and whenever she illustrated a book, she favoured the usual publishers’ practice of keeping the author and illustrator completely separate until the launch.{{cite web |url=http://nebraskawriters.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-artists-vision-rosekrans-hoffman.html |author=Stephen Cloyd |title=A Book Artist's Vision: Rosekrans Hoffman--A New Display in the Heritage Room|website=www.nebraskawriters.blogspot.com |date=24 August 2010 |access-date=2022-03-03}}

Her work was influenced by her childhood in Nebraska, and the Dust Bowl of the early 1930s.{{cite news |date=1982-05-15 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Hoffman on videotape |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311978827/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=3 |quote=Ms. Hoffman relates how her work was influenced by the Dust Bowl day and a disabling illness.}} ‘Washed-out’ shades tended to dominate her illustrations – dusty browns, mauves, ochres and dying yellows; she called them “old world” colours. Her characters were described as “peculiar, unique and slightly out-of-proportion, but never cute.” Of her style, she said “I work primarily with ink on fine pen points and turn corners where I have never been.”{{cite book |date=1979 |title=Something About The Author |edition=Volume 3 |publisher= Gale Research |page=133 |location= Detroit, Michigan |isbn= 0810300966}}

She advised two-term US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser on his first children's book Bag in the Wind (finally published 2010) after it received a “lukewarm” reception from children's book publishers. Her advice was to remove much of Kooser's descriptive text, and leave it to the illustrator to create the imagery.{{cite news |date=2010-03-01 |newspaper= Lincoln Journal Star |title=Kooser publishes his first children's book |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/741837496/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=D1}}

Her work is in the following collections{{cite web |url=https://mona.unk.edu/mona/ruth-olive-rosekrans-hoffman/ |author= |title=Ruth Olive Rosekrans Hoffman |website=mona.unk.edu |date=20 March 2017 |access-date=2022-03-03}}

• Heritage Room, Lincoln Public Library, Nebraska
• Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
• Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York
• Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
• Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota{{cite news |date=1978-07-30 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |author=Helen Haggie |title=NU training was best, illustrator says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311136629/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=79}}

Her work was exhibited in the following venues:

• Haydon Art Center, Lincoln, Nebraska{{cite news |date=2008-08-17 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Lincoln: Ongoing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/297861774/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=73}}
• Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Nebraska
• New York City Center Gallery, New York{{cite news |date=1957-10-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |author=Dore Ashton |title=Art: Along the galleries |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/10/11/issue.html |location=New York |page=25}}
• Bennett Martin Public Library, Nebraska{{cite news |date=1978-12-10 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Rosekrans Hoffman art display |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311189867/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=111}}
• Elder Gallery, Nebraska Wesleyan University
• University Place Art Center (Lux Center for the Arts), Lincoln, Nebraska

• Anna Banana (1975){{cite book |date=1975 |last=Hoffman |first=Rosekrans |title=Anna Banana |publisher= Knopf/Random House |location=New York |isbn=0394831098}}
• Sweet Sister Ella (1982){{cite book |date=1982 |last=Hoffman |first=Rosekrans |title=Sweet Sister Ella |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn=0688008658}}

• Walter in Love (1973){{cite book |date=1973 |last=White |first=Alicen |title=Walter in Love |publisher= Lothrop, Lee & Shepard |location=New York |isbn= 0688500404}} by Alicen White {{ISBN|0688500404}}
• Where Did That Naughty Little Hamster Go? (1974){{cite book |date=1974 |last=Wolcott |first=Patty |title=Where did that naughty little hamster go? |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |isbn= 0201142457}} by Patty Wolcott {{ISBN|0201142457}}
• Alexandra the Rock Eater: An Old Rumanian Tale Retold (1978){{cite book |date=1978 |last= Van Woerkom |first=Dorothy |title= Alexandra the Rock Eater: An Old Rumanian Tale Retold |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn= 0201142457}} by Dorothy Van Woerkom – nominated for a Caldecott Medal {{ISBN|0201142457}}
• An Egg Is To Sit On (1978){{cite book |date=1978 |last= Tanz |first=Christine |title= An Egg is to sit on |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn= 0688518117}} by Christine Tanz {{ISBN|0688518117}}
• My Mother Sends Her Wisdom (1979){{cite book |date=1979 |last= McClenathan |first=Louise |title= My Mother Sends her Wisdom |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn=0688221939}} by Louise McClenathan {{ISBN|0688221939}}
• Go to Bed! A Book of Bedtime Poems (1979){{cite book |date=1979 |last=Hopkins |first=Lee Bennett |title=Go to bed. A book of bedtime poems |publisher=Knopf/Random House |location=New York |isbn=0394938690}} by Lee Bennett Hopkins {{ISBN|0394938690}}
• Elves, Fairies & Gnomes: Poems (1980){{cite book |date=1980 |last=Hopkins |first=Lee Bennett |title=Elves, Fairies and Gnomes: Poems |publisher=Knopf/Random House |location=New York |isbn=0394943511}} selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins {{ISBN|0394943511}}
• Come Home, Wilma (1980){{cite book |date=1980 |last=Sharmatt |first=Mitchell |title=Come Home, Wilma |publisher=Whitman and Co |location=New York |isbn=0807512788}} by Mitchell Sharmat {{ISBN|0807512788}}
• The Case of the Missing Hat: Starring Jim Henson’s Muppet's (1982){{cite book |date=1982 |last=Williams |first=Greg |title=The Case of the Missing Hat |publisher=Muppet Press / Random House |location=New York |isbn=0394851048}} by Greg Williams {{ISBN|0394851048}}
• The Easter Pig (1982){{cite book |date=1982 |last= McClenathan |first=Louise |title=The Easter Pig |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn= 0688014461}} by Louise McClenathan {{ISBN|0688014461}}
• The Truth About the Moon (1983){{cite book |date=1983 |last= Bess |first=Clayton |title=The Truth about the Moon |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=0395643716}} by Clayton Bess {{ISBN|0395643716}}
• How Do You Make an Elephant Float? And Other Delicious Riddles (1983){{cite book |date=1983 |last= Hopkins |first=Lee Bennett |title=How do you make an elephant float? And other delicious riddles |publisher=Whitman |location=Illinois |isbn= 0807534153}} by Lee Bennett Hopkins {{ISBN|0807534153}}
• Creepy, Crawly Critter Riddles (1986){{cite book |date=1983 |last1=Bernstein |first1=Joanne E |last2=Cohen Whitman |first2=Paul |title=Creepy, Crawly Critter Riddles |publisher=A Whitman and Co. |location=Illinois |isbn=0807513458}} by Joanne E. Bernstein and Paul Cohen Whitman {{ISBN|0807513458}}
• Three Sisters (1986){{cite book |date=1983 |last=Wood |first=Audrey |title=Three sisters |publisher=A&C Black |location=London |isbn=0803705972}} by Audrey Wood {{ISBN|0803705972}}
• The Horrible Holidays (1988){{cite book |date=1988 |last=Wood |first=Audrey |title=The Horrible Holidays |publisher=Dial Books |location=New York |isbn=0803705468}} by Audrey Wood {{ISBN|0803705468}}
• Sue Patch and the Crazy Clocks (1989){{cite book |date=1989 |last=Tompert |first=Ann |title=Sue Patch and the Crazy Clocks |publisher=Dial Books |location=New York |isbn=0803706561}} by Ann Tompert {{ISBN|0803706561}}
• Jet Black Pick-Up Truck (1990){{cite book |date=1989 |last=Lakin |first=Pat |title=Jet Black Pickup Truck |publisher=Orchard Books |location=New York |isbn=0531058859}} by Pat Lakin {{ISBN|0531058859}}
• The Best Cat Suit of All (1991){{cite book |date=1991 |last=Cassedy |first=Sylvia |title=The Best Cat Suit of All |publisher=Dial Books |location=New York |isbn=0803705166}} by Sylvia Cassedy {{ISBN|0803705166}}
• Jane Yolen’s Mother Goose Songbook (1992){{cite book |date=1992 |last=Yolen |first=Jane |title=Jane Yolen's Mother Goose Songbook |publisher=Wordsong |location=New York |isbn=1878093525}} by Jane Yolen, musical arrangements Adam Stemple {{ISBN|1878093525}}
• Where Do Little Girls Grow? (1993){{cite book |date=1993 |last=Limmer |first=Milly Jane |title=Where do little girls grow? |publisher=Albert Whitman and Co. |location=Illinois |isbn=0807589241}} by Milly Jane Limmer {{ISBN|0807589241}}
• Jane Yolen’s Old MacDonald Songbook (1994){{cite book |date=1994 |last=Yolen |first=Jane |title=Jane Yolen's Old MacDonald Songbook |publisher=Wordsong |location=New York |isbn=1563972816}} by Jane Yolen {{ISBN|1563972816}}
• Another New Day (1995){{cite book |date=1995 |last1= Potter |first1=Brian |last2=Green |first2=Wayne |title=Ho |publisher= Hear We Go Kids, Inc |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=0964552906}} by Brian Potter and Wayne Green {{ISBN|0964552906}}
• Pignic: An Alphabet in Rhyme (1996){{cite book |date=1996 |last=Anne |first=Miranda |title=Pignic: An Alphabet in Rhyme |publisher= Boyd Mills Press Inc. |location=Honesdale, Pennsylvania |isbn=1563975580}} by Anne Miranda {{ISBN|1563975580}}
• Mr Wink (1996){{cite book |date=1996 |last1=Daniel |first1=Claire |last2=Hiebert |first2= Elfrieda H. |title=Mr Wink |publisher=Savvas Learning Co. |location=New York |isbn= 0813607825}} by Claire Daniel and Elfrieda H. Hiebert {{ISBN|0813607825}}
• Delilah Drinkwater and the Clever Cloud (1997) {{cite book |date=1997 |last=Vaughan |first=Marcia |title=Delilah Drinkwater and the Clever Cloud |publisher=Savvas Learning Co. |location=New York |isbn= 0813607825}} by Marcia Vaughan {{ISBN|0813607825}}

Hoffman produced many textbook illustrations “because texts make more money.”{{cite news |date=1980-03-23 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |author=Lind Ulrich |title=Artist's world is safe for kids |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/312453930/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=50}} She worked with publishers including Houghton Mifflin, McGraw Hill Education, Open Court, Scholastic and Zaner-Bloser.

She created a Christmas card each year, many of which are stored in the History Nebraska collection, in Lincoln, Nebraska.{{cite web |url=https://nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Hoffman%2C+Ruth+%28Rosekrans%29%2C+1926-2007|author= |title=Object Record |website=www.nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com |access-date=2022-03-03}} She also designed a poster for New York's Children's Book Council Anytime, Anyplace, Any Book campaign in 1981.{{cite magazine |date=October 1981 |title=Children's Book Council |magazine=Early Years for Teachers |edition=Vol. 12, Issue 2 |publisher=Early Years Inc. |page=14}}

• Caldecott Medal nominee for Alexandra the Rock Eater (1978)
• Established Pearl Rosekrans Memorial Scholarship in honour of her mother, awarded to an art student at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1978)
• Society of Illustrators member for Come Home, Wilma (1980){{cite news |date=2007-09-28 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=Hoffman, noted children's book illustrator, dies at 81 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/298375731/?article=090eadae-a7f9-4c2c-bb8c-e1ba355650fe |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=5B}}
• The Nebraska Literary Heritage Association sponsored a dinner honouring Hoffman in the Rotunda of the Nebraska State Capitol (1983)
• Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in Art (1999) by UNL College of Fine Art, Nebraska{{cite news |date=1999-04-02 |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |title=UNL Arts College Honoress named |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/297680599/?terms=rosekrans%20Hoffman&match=1 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=29}}

• [https://dentonchs.wordpress.com Denton Community Historical Society]
• [http://nebraskawriters.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-artists-vision-rosekrans-hoffman.html Nebraska Writers, Lincoln City Library ]
• [https://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public_html/html/research/findaids/hoffman.htm de Grummond Collection, McCain Library and Archives, University of Southern Mississippi ]
• [https://mona.unk.edu/mona/ruth-olive-rosekrans-hoffman/ Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) ]

{{Portal|Biography}}

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Category:1926 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:Artists from Lincoln, Nebraska

Category:Artists from Nebraska

Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni

Category:American children's book illustrators

Category:American women children's book illustrators

Category:20th-century American women artists

Category:20th-century American women painters

Category:20th-century American painters

Category:American women children's writers

Category:American children's writers