Anna Whelan Betts

There is precious little known about Ms. Anna Whelan Betts (1878-1952), and even less about her illustrator sister, Ms. Ethel Franklin Betts. What is known is that Anna was a superb artist, a devoted craftsperson, and later a respected art teacher. She first studied at the Pennsylvania Academy with one of Maxfield Parrish’s favorite teachers, Robert Vonnoh. After her early studies in Philadelphia, she left for Paris and was tutored by Courtois, an academic painter from the Academie Julian. Upon her return to the United States, she had the opportunity to join the first illustration class taught by Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute, in the same class as Maxfield Parrish, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Jessie Willcox Smith, she jumped at the chance. Because her work was so exemplary, in the summer of 1899, Howard Pyle invited Anna Betts to partake in his Chadds Ford summer school in the Pennsylvania countryside. It was there that she met her good friend, illustrator Sarah Stillwell Weber.

Anna Betts’ first published illustration was for Collier’s Magazine in 1899, and that commission was most probably at Howard Pyle’s suggestion for he had many connections with the art directors and was always searching for new talent to propose to the hungry magazines. Pyle’s classes were made up approximately of fifty percent females and Pyle took pride in trying to gain commissions for his talented students, be they male or female. That first commission launched Anna Whelan Betts’s career as from then onwards her works were published in Century Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, The Ladies’ Home Journal, and St. Nicholas magazines, among others. However, Anna was proudest when her work was published in book form and in 1901, her first book illustrations came to life in Nancy’s Country Christmas, and then in Janice Meredith. She is best known for painting images of proper Victorian women in romantic settings and moods. Anna Whelan Betts was later honored as a fellow at the Pennsylvania Academy and won several metals for her work in various competitions and exhibitions including a bronze medal at the 1915 Panama/Pacific Exposition. In 1925, Anna suffered declining eyesight problems and retired formally from illustration. Simultaneously, she was fortunate to be able to join the faculty of Solebury School, a small private boys school and was thereafter involved in all aspects of administration including teaching art courses, which she enjoyed immensely. Ms. Betts stayed at Solebury School for more than twenty years and retired from that position in 1948 when her health began to wane. She moved in with her sister in New Hope, Pennsylvania, having lived almost her entire life in the Delaware Valley.

External links

http://www.americanillustration.org/index2.html

Further reading

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