Bessie Pease Gutmann Biography

Bessie Pease Gutmann (1876-1960) was an American artist and illustrator, most noted for her paintings of infants and young children. 

Gutmann was born Bessie Collins Pease in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Mount Holly, New Jersey. After graduating high school, Gutmann studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. From 1896 to 1898, she attended the New York School of Art (later Parsons, The New School), and attended the Art Students League of New York from 1899 to 1901.

Gutmann initially worked as an independent commercial artist drawing portraits and newspaper advertisements. In 1903, she gained employment with the publishing firm of Gutmann & Gutmann which specialised in fine art prints. The first children's book she illustrated was a 1905 edition of A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. Gutmann illustrated several more books including a notable 1907 version of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. In 1906, she married Hellmuth Gutmann, one of the brothers who co-owned the publishing firm where she was employed.

She also created artwork for postcards and calendars, and her art adorned 22 magazine covers for McCall's, Collier's, Woman's Home Companion and Pictorial Review, among others. Gutmann's work was popular through the 1920s but interest in her style declined before World War II. Due to failing eyesight, she retired from drawing in 1947.