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Miska Petersham - Then the uncles asked her the first question first

Then the uncles asked her the first question first (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
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Maud Fuller Petersham and Miska Petersham were American writers and illustrators who helped set the direction for illustrated children's books that followed. The Petershams worked closely with such pioneering children's book editors as Louise Seaman Bechtel and May Massee, and with such innovative printers as Charles Stringer and William Glaser. They worked as a seamless partnership for more than five decades. Both prolific and versatile, they produced illustrations for more than 120 trade books and textbooks, anthologies, and picture books. Of the 50 books they both wrote and illustrated, many were recognized with important awards or critical acclaim. They are known for technical excellence, exuberant color, and the introduction of international folk and modernist themes.

Maud Fuller was born August 5, 1890, in Kingston, New York to a family with deep Yankee roots. Her mother was from the Sisson family, generations of Rhode Island Quakers. Her father descended from the physician on the Mayflower. He was a Baptist minister who moved his family several times. The third of four daughters, Maud graduated from Vassar College in 1912, and later studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. While working at the International Art Service (IAS), a graphic design firm in New York City, she met her future husband, Miska Petersham.

Miska was born Petrezselyem Mihaly in Torokszentmiklos, Hungary, on September 20, 1888, the son of a carpenter and blacksmith. Miska studied at the Royal National School for Applied Arts in Budapest. He completed his studies in 1911 and moved first to London and within six months, travelling steerage, came to New York through Ellis Island in 1912. He quickly found work at the International Art Service, a graphic arts studio with modernist European style founded by Arthur Wiener.

Maud and Miska met across the drawing board of the IAS studios, and married three years later in 1917. They moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. They obtained their first children's book work through Miska's Hungarian friend Willy Pogany, an established illustrator, and in a few years they had steady illustration commissions and were championed and encouraged by May Massee at Doubleday.

By 1923, they were established and able to buy land and build a house in Woodstock, New York, on the edge of the thriving Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony. Among the books they illustrated during this period were A Child's Own Book of Verse (Books I and II), Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories, Margery Clark's The Poppyseed Cakes and Johanna Spyri's Heidi. The first book they both wrote and illustrated was Miki, about their son, published in 1929. Maud later was to say, "At first we illustrated books written by others, but often we found no place in the text that lent itself to illustration, so we decided to plan a book of our own with both pictures and text."

The Petershams' work was recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). Four of their books were selected for inclusion in the highly competitive AIGA exhibitions in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The titles so honored were Nursery Friends from France, Children of the Mountain Eagle, Tales Told in Holland and Get-A-Way and Háry János. After the American Library Association established the annual Caldecott Medal for children's picture books in 1937, the Petershams were one of the runners-up for An American ABC in 1942 and they won the 1946 Medal. Today they may be known best as creators of that winning work, The Rooster Crows (Macmillan, 1945), a collection of American songs, rhymes, and games.

The Petershams had two children, Miki, and Elizabeth Petersham.

More Illustrations in Book: Rootabaga stories (View all 12)

The balloons floated and filled the sky

The balloons floated and filled the sky (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money

He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
It seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose

It seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
‘I am sure many people will stop and remember the Potato Face Blind Man’

‘I am sure many people will stop and remember the Potato Face Blind Man’ (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman

The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet

They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn

His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
There on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill sits the Head Spotter

There on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill sits the Head Spotter (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
So they stood looking

So they stood looking (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
Away off where the sun was coming up there were people and animals

Away off where the sun was coming up there were people and animals (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats

They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats (1922)

Miska Petersham (American, 1888 – 1960)
View all 12 Artworks

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