Artist · 18 prints
Virginia Frances Sterrett Prints
About Virginia Frances Sterrett
Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900–1931) was an American illustrator, born in Chicago. She won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago but left after a year to support her family when her mother fell ill, and took a job at an advertising agency. At 19 she received her first book commission from the Penn Publishing Company, around the time she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Virginia Frances Sterrett illustrated only three books. Old French Fairy Tales (1920), stories by the Comtesse de Ségur, was followed by Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales (1921), retellings of Greek myths. Illness then allowed her to work only in short spells, and her last and best-known book, Arabian Nights, was published in 1928. Her pictures are delicate and fantastical, with slender figures, fine line and ornamental detail. She died of tuberculosis in 1931, at about 31.
Virginia Frances Sterrett prints: reproductions of the fairy tale and myth illustrations Virginia Frances Sterrett drew for Old French Fairy Tales (1920) and Tanglewood Tales (1921). Works here include The Pomegranate Seeds (1921), Medea: She Whipped Up the Snakes and Ascended High over the City (1921), Circe's Palace (1921), Princess Rosette (1920) and Blondine (1920).
This selection covers both books: the Greek myths of Tanglewood Tales, with Jason, Medea, Cadmus, Ariadne and Proserpina, and the enchanted forests, princesses and transformations of the French tales. The figures are tall and slender, drawn with fine line and soft colour, and many scenes are set in forests and palaces.
The dreamlike, delicate scenes suit bedrooms, reading corners, children's rooms and libraries, and several plates hung together tell a story along a hallway. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
