Ruth Chrisman Gannett

{{Short description|American book illustrator (1896–1979)}}

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Ruth Chrisman Gannett ({{date|16 December 1896|MDY}} – {{fdate|8 December 1979|MDY}}) was an American book illustrator. She was the illustrator of several award winning books, including the Newbery Medal winner Miss Hickory (1946) by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, the Newbery Honor book My Father's Dragon (1948) by her stepdaughter Ruth Stiles Gannett, and the Caldecott Honor book My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World (1945) by Becky Reyher.{{Cite book |last=Commire |first=Anne |url=http://archive.org/details/somethingaboutau33anne |title=Something about the author. [electronic resource] |date=1983 |publisher=Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8103-0061-3}}

Life and career

Ruth Chrisman was born on {{date|16 December 1896|MDY}} in Santa Ana, California, the daughter of Ernest L. Chrisman and Edith Hogle Chrisman. She earned an A.B. and A.M. from the University of California Berkeley is 1919 and 1920. She also studied at the Art Students' League Her teachers included Winold Reiss, Norman Bel Geddes, and Adolfo Best Maugard.

Most of Gannett's work was illustrating children's books, and her work on My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World (1945), Miss Hickory (1946), and My Father's Dragon (1948) was singled out for critical praise. She also illustrated a number of adult novels, including Tortilla Flat (1937) by John Steinbeck

Ruth Chrisman Gannett died on 8 December 1979 in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Personal life

Gannett married twice. Her first husband was industrial designer Egmont Arens. Her second husband was Lewis Stiles Gannett, author, journalist, and critic.

Bibliography

References