Zula Kenyon
{{short description|American illustrator}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Zula Kenyon
| image = ZulaKenyon1910.jpg
| alt = A young white woman, standing in profile, wearing a long dark dress with a tiered skirt
| caption = Zula Kenyon, from a 1910 publication
| other_names =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = June 5, 1873
| birth_place = Deansville, Wisconsin
| death_date = June 23, 1947
| death_place = La Mesa, California
| occupation = Illustrator
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Zula Kenyon (June 5, 1873 – June 23, 1947) was an American illustrator, best known for her pastel work for the Gerlach Barklow Co.
Early life
Kenyon was born in Deansville, Wisconsin, the daughter of John Kenyon and Sarah Clark Kenyon.{{Cite web|title=Haidee Kenyon / Zula Kenyon|url=https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1986/july/kenyon/|access-date=2021-09-22|website=San Diego History Center {{!}} San Diego, CA {{!}} Our City, Our Story|language=en-US}} Her father was a clergyman; she moved to Chicago with her mother and sister by 1900. She trained as an artist at the Art Institute of Chicago.{{Cite news|date=1911-12-24|title=Miss Kenyon is Popular Among Picture Lovers|pages=9|work=The Joliet Evening Herald-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85799897/miss-kenyon-is-popular-among-picture/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Kenyon was exhibiting her work by 1896.{{Cite news|date=1896-06-23|title=A Fine Exhibition|pages=5|work=The Champaign Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85811142/a-fine-exhibition/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}} She made hundreds of illustrations in pastel for the Gerlach Barklow Company of Joliet, Illinois.{{Cite book|last=Huebner|first=Jeff|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQV4qKcpHXcC&dq=Zula+Kenyon&pg=PA70|title=Murals : the Great Walls of Joliet|date=2001|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06957-4|pages=70|language=en}} Her work, usually sentimental images of children, animals, flowers, and young women, was featured in their calendars, jigsaw puzzles, and other publications.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0BM4pq7_MYC&dq=Zula+Kenyon&pg=PA204|title=Reports of the United States Board of Tax Appeals|date=1929-07-25|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=204–207|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=1918-01-01|title=Beautiful Calendar|pages=4|work=Evening Capital|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85806525/beautiful-calendar/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}} The Spokesman and Harness World magazine declared that "Never has Miss Kenyon painted nobler animals or more winsome womanhood" than in Gerlach Barklow's "In the Land of the Blue Grass" calendar for 1920.{{Cite journal|date=January 1920|title=A Beautiful and Appropriate Calendar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQ-AQAAMAAJ&dq=Zula+Kenyon&pg=PA19|journal=The Spokesman and Harness World|volume=36|pages=19}} Her most popular series, "The Song of the Bluebird", was made for the company's 1926 Bluebird calendar, and versions of the Bluebird series were published for decades afterward; it was the most commercially successful series published by Gerlach Barklow.{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Tim and Michelle|date=2014-04-03|title=Bluebirds and Happiness|url=https://rockwellcenter.org/essays-illustration/bluebirds-and-happiness/|access-date=2021-09-22|website=The Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies|language=en-US}}{{Cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Tim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7n1Zmd8wPIsC&dq=Zula+Kenyon&pg=PA83|title=Joliet's Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company|last2=Smith|first2=Michelle|date=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-7726-5|pages=83|language=en}}
Works by Kenyon are still considered collectible, and a museum in Waterloo, Wisconsin had a display of Kenyon illustrations in 2014.{{Cite web|last=Giese|first=Maureen|date=February 19, 2014|title=Waterloo museum home to calendar artist paintings|url=https://www.hngnews.com/waterloo_marshall/news/local/article_5313077a-98ea-11e3-9619-0017a43b2370.html|access-date=2021-09-22|website=Hometown News LP|language=en}}
Personal life
Kenyon traveled abroad with her sister in 1913.{{Cite news|date=1913-01-05|title=Calendar Artist Starts Trip to World Art Centers|pages=4|work=The Joliet Evening Herald-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85807051/calendar-artist-starts-trip-to-world/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}} She was in a car accident in Chicago in 1914, as a passenger in a car that lost its roof in high winds.{{Cite news|date=1914-03-25|title=Coiffure Saves Artist; Calendar Painter Hurt; Wind Crashes Auto Top on Couple|pages=2|work=The Joliet Evening Herald-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85806702/coiffure-saves-artist-calendar-painter/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}} Before 1920 she moved to Arizona and then to Southern California{{Cite news|date=1922-06-09|title=Artist Leaves|pages=7|work=Arizona Daily Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85807161/artist-leaves/|access-date=2021-09-22|via=Newspapers.com}} for her health, living with her younger sister Haidee Kenyon. She died in La Mesa, California in 1947, aged 74 years.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- Barbara Driscoll, Chuck Kahle, Tim Smith, and Norm Platnick, [https://www.enchantmentink.com/zula.php Love's Old Sweet Song: A Collector's Guide to Zula Kenyon] (Enchantment Ink 2009).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenyon, Zula}}
Category:American women artists
Category:American illustrators