Print by Bessie Pease Gutmann for Your Dollhouse

       Bessie Pease Gutmann (April 8, 1876 – September 1929, 1960) was an American artist and illustrator most noted for her paintings of putti, infants and young children. During the early 1900s Gutmann was considered one of the better-known magazine and book illustrators in the United States. Her artwork was featured on 22 magazine covers such as Woman's Home Companion and McCall's between 1906 and 1920. She also illustrated popular children's books including a notable 1907 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Although the commercial popularity of Gutmann's art declined during World War II, there was renewed interest in her illustrations from collectors by the late 20th century.

      Gutmann was born Bessie Collins Pease on April 8, 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Horace Collins. After graduating from high school, she 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). She also attended Art Students League of New York from 1899 to 1901.

      Bessie initially worked as an independent commercial artist drawing portraits and newspapers advertisements. In 1903, she gained employment with the publishing firm of Gutmann & Gutmann which specialized in fine art prints. Her first illustration of a children's book, published in 1905, was 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. 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. Her greatest recognition came from a series of hand-colored prints which highlighted the innocence of young children. Two of her most notable works were A Little Bit of Heaven and The Awakening which both focused on the face and hands of an infant tucked under a blanket. Gutmann's work was popular through the 1920s, but by World War II, interest in her style had declined. Due to failing eyesight, she retired from drawing in 1947.

      In 1906, Bessie married Hellmuth Gutmann, one of the brothers who co-owned the publishing firm where she was employed. The couple had three children, Alice, Lucille, and John, who became the models for Gutmann's illustrations.

      She died on September 29, 1960 in Centerport, New York at the age of 84.

      I've restored the few examples of her work, for this article, that I have in my collection. Not all of Gutmann's works are in the public domain. But certainly those illustrations published by companies other than her own prior to 1923 would be.

A few samples of Bessie Gutmann's paintings of children. Left, child on the telephone, Center, child in
a red highchair and Right, a child falling asleep under the bed covers.

Print by Maud Humphrey for Your Dollhouse

A restored photograph of 
Maud Hemphrey in her
youth.

      Maud Humphrey (March 30, 1868 – 1940) was a commercial illustrator, water colorist, and suffragette from the United States. She was also the mother of actor Humphrey Bogart and would frequently use her young son as a model.
      She was born in Rochester, New York in 1868 to John Perkins Humphrey and Frances V. Dewey Churchill. She studied at the Art Students League of New York and in Paris at the Julian Academy.
       She married Dr. Belmont DeForest Bogart (1867–1934); they had one son, Humphrey, and two daughters.
      She won a Louis Prang and Company competition for Christmas card design and then began working for publisher F. A. Stokes as an illustrator. From the 1890s through the 1920s, her work Included child portraits, "illustrating calendars, greeting cards, postcards, fashion magazines, and more than 20 story books." She earned more than $50,000 a year while her husband's surgical practice brought in $20,000 a year.
      E. Richards McKinstry of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library observed in his article Heres's Looking at You, Maud, that the Gerber Products logo she illustrated for its strained baby food was not created until Humphrey Bogart was an adult. So, they do not believe that he was depicted in this particular portrait.
      Maud Humphrey died in 1940 and was interred in the Columbarium at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale).

I've restored these illustrations by Maud Humphrey for those of you
who would like to decorate an old-fashioned doll house with them.
Do you think any of these babies or children are of her son
Humphrey Bogart?

Craft a Romanesque Column Pedestal for Doll Bust

The plastic bust here is of Napoleon, a historical figure. I
purchased a bag of cork stoppers to craft with
and he was inside of it. 

       This sample pedestal is just the right size for a Barbie or Fashionista to display their marble bust upon inside of a gallery or dollhouse. You could make a similar version for an 18" doll using an oats can or Morton salt container.

       Make certain that while you gather your supplies, choose a cap that is slightly larger than your pedestal for the bottom platform and then a cap that is similar to the size of your pedestal for the top platform wear the dolls may display a pretend marble bust or some other kind of sculpture. 

       I only had the example of Napoleon at hand while making the pedestal. I painted him white to make the plastic look like a plaster cast.

Supply List:

• recycled cardboard toilet tube
• tacky white glue
• scrap corrugated cardboard
• a couple of large caps, make sure one of them is larger for the base of the pedestal
• white acrylic paint
• Mod Podge
• masking tape
• hot glue gun and glue (optional)

Left is the unpainted pedestal. Right is the painted version
for a gallery of even a display inside of a doll family mansion.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Take your scrap corrugated cardboard and carefully peal away one side of it so that your are left with one side of the exposed bumpy texture.
2. Squeeze out and smear across the surface of a clean toilet paper tube the white school glue.
3. Wrap the corrugated cardboard around the tube with the bumpy side facing out. Secure this temporarily with a little masking tape while it is let to dry.
4. Once the surfaces are dried together, remove the masking tape carefully.
5. Now you can glue the caps on both ends of the tube to shape the pedestal. Let dry.
6. Paint the surface of your pedestal to compliment the interior of the room you would like to display a bust or sculpture inside. The pedestal does not need to be white. This is a traditional color often selected for gallery spaces, but you may wish to paint your own black or brown or even something more colorful!
7. Mod Podge the finished surface to keep it clean and durable for play.

Print by Grace Drayton for Your Dollhouse

Cover of "Molly and The Unwiseman
Abroad" 

          Grace Drayton (October 14, 1877 – January 31, 1936) was an illustrator who created popular period comics Dolly Dimples (1910) and The Pussycat Princess (1935). She created the "Campbell Soup Kids" advertising campaign and is probably best known for her popular Dolly Dingle paper dolls in the women's magazine Pictorial Review. She frequently collaborated with her sister, Margaret G. Hays, also a comic strip author and writer.
       Christened Viola Grace Gebbie, in 1900 she married Theodore Wiederseim and started signing her work "Grace Wiederseim." In 1911, Grace divorced Wiederseim and married W. Drayton, and started signing her work Grace Drayton. She divorced Drayton in 1923 but continued to sign her work "Grace Drayton" or "G G Drayton."
       She was an early member of Philadelphia's The Plastic Club.
       Some of Draytons' work is in the public domain and some of it is not. Be careful to scrutinize the publishing dates when looking at her work.

Read more about Grace Drayton:

• I've created some coloring pages of Grace Drayton's Children at the Crayon Palace for little ones.
• Grace illustrated "Molly and The Unwiseman Abroad"
• Ask the Archivist: Grace G. Drayton
• PDF from The Historical Society of Pennsylvania "The Plastic Club Records: 1888-2007"

illustrations by Grace Drayton

Prints by Pyle for Your Dollhouse

      Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.

      In 1894 he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University). After 1900, he founded his own school of art and illustration, named the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. The scholar Henry C. Pitz later used the term Brandywine School for the illustration artists and Wyeth family artists of the Brandywine region, several of whom had studied with Pyle. Some of his more notable students were N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Elenore Abbott, Ethel Franklin Betts, Anna Whelan Betts, Harvey Dunn, Clyde O. DeLand, Philip R. Goodwin, Thornton Oakley, Violet Oakley, Ellen Bernard Thompson Pyle, Olive Rush, Allen Tupper True, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Arthur E. Becher, William James Aylward, and Jessie Willcox Smith. Pyle's home and studio in Wilmington, where he taught his students, is still standing and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

      His 1883 classic publication The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood remains in print, and his other books, frequently with medieval European settings, include a four-volume set on King Arthur. He is also well known for his illustrations of pirates, and is credited with creating what has become the modern stereotype of pirate dress. He published his first novel, Otto of the Silver Hand, in 1888. He also illustrated historical and adventure stories for periodicals such as Harper's Magazine and St. Nicholas Magazine. His novel Men of Iron was adapted as the movie The Black Shield of Falworth (1954).

      Pyle traveled to Florence, Italy in 1910 to study mural painting. He died there in 1911 of a sudden kidney infection (Bright's Disease). Read more . . . 

Below I've restored a few of Pyle's paintings. You can visit a collection of his illustrations restored for children to color at my Crayon Palace blog here.

Left, an illustration of Captain Keitt, Center, an Attack On a Galleon, and Right, an illustration from "The Price of Blood."

More Related Content:

• How to plan a pirate themed birthday party...
• Coloring pages for life at sea.

Prints by Rackham for Your Dollhouse

Illustrator Arthur Rackham.

      Rackham was born in Lewisham, then still part of Kent as one of 12 children. In 1884, at the age of 17, he was sent on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his fragile health, accompanied by two aunts. At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.

      In 1892, he left his job and started working for the Westminster Budget as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for The Dolly Dialogues, the collected sketches of Anthony Hope, who later went on to write The Prisoner of Zenda. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.

      By the turn of the century Rackham had developed a reputation for pen and ink fantasy illustration with richly illustrated gift books such as The Ingoldsby Legends (1898), Gulliver's Travels and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (both 1900). This was developed further through the austere years of the Boer War with regular contributions to children's periodicals such as Little Folks and Cassell's Magazine. In 1901 he moved to Wychcombe Studios near Haverstock Hill, and in 1903 married his neighbour Edyth Starkie. Edith suffered a miscarriage in 1904, but the couple had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Although acknowledged as an accomplished black-and-white book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of his full colour plates to Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Income from the books was greatly augmented by annual exhibitions of the artwork at the Leicester Galleries. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914.

      From 1906 the family lived in Chalcot Gardens, near Haverstock Hill, until moving from London to Houghton, West Sussex in 1920. In 1929 the family settled into a newly built property in Limpsfield, Surrey. Arthur Rackham died in 1939 of cancer at his home. Read more . . .

I've restored samples from Arthur Rackham's illustrated volume of English Fairy Tales: left is "fee-fi-fo-fum," I smell the blood of an Englishman, Center is Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar at home, and right is "She went along, and went along..."

Click to download the largest available size, print and frame for your dollhouse.

Read and Color More Fairy Stories:

• Fairy Tales by The Brother's Grimm - The ongoing collection in progress here...
• My Fairy Tale Coloring Pages - for adults and children to color in...

Print by Ruth Mary Hallock for Your Dollhouse

      Ruth Mary Hallock (1876-1945) illustrated children’s books for half a century. One of her earliest works was, “Little Rhymes for Little Readers” published in 1903. Many of her popular illustrations were republished in 1950 editions of children’s storybooks after her death.

More Links to Ruth Mary Hallock’s Artworks:

• Illustrator Ruth Mary Hallock
• Early Illustrators of a Child’s Garden Verses
• “What they say in Rabbitville, 1935″ by Hallock

Print by Wladyslaw T. Benda for Your Dollhouse

      Władysław Teodor “W.T.” Benda (January 15, 1873, Poznań, Poland (Posen, German Empire) – November 30, 1948, Newark, New Jersey, United States) was a Polish-American painter, illustrator, and designer.

      The son of musician Jan Szymon Benda, and a nephew of the actress Helena Modrzejewska (known in the United States as Helena Modjeska), W.T. Benda studied art at the Krakow College of Technology and Art in his native Poland and at the School of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria. He came to the United States at the very end of the 19th century, to visit his Aunt Helena, who then lived in California. He stayed, and moved to New York City in 1902, where he attended the Art Students League of New York and the William Merritt Chase School. While there, Benda studied under Robert Henri and Edward Penfield.

A Girl of The Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter, 
(Read Online if you’d like) Illustrations by
Wladyslaw T. Benda.  New York Doubleday,
Page & Company, 1909. Title Page.

      He joined the Society of Illustrators in 1907, the Architectural League in 1916, and became a naturalized American in 1911. He was also a member of the National Society of Mural Painters. He remained in NYC for the rest of his life. Benda married Romola Campfield, and they had two daughters, Eleanora and Baria, who were both artists.

      Starting in 1905, Benda was primarily a graphic artist. He illustrated books, short stories, advertising copy, and magazine covers for Collier’s, McCall’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Theatre Magazine and many others. Many publishers regarded Benda as their go-to artist for his dependability and artistic abilities. In his time he was as well known as Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth or Maxfield Parrish. During the 1920s/1930s every publication sought the look of “the American Girl,” but Benda’s beautiful women were often exotic and mysterious, not homespun pretty like the girls of Harrison Fisher or Howard Chandler Christy. Benda was fiercely proud of his Polish heritage and became closely associated with the Polish-American cultural institution, The Kosciuszko Foundation (see below). During the two World Wars he designed many posters for both Poland and America. He was honored with the ‘Polonia Restituta’ decoration by the Polish government following World War I.

      Beginning in 1914, Benda was also an accomplished mask maker and costume designer. His sculpted, papier-mache face masks were used in plays and dances and often in his own paintings and illustrations. They were used in masques or miracle plays in New York City at venues like the New York Coffee House. Benda also created the masks for stage productions in New York and London for such writers as Eugene O’Neil and Noël Coward. He became so well-known as a mask maker that his name became synonymous for any life-like mask, whether it was of his design or not. Benda also created “grotesque” masks, which were more fantasy or caricature in nature. Benda created the original mask design for the movie The Mask of Fu Manchu, which was originally published as a twelve part serial in Collier’s from May 7, 1932 through July 23, 1932. The cover of the May 7 issue presented a stunning portrait by Benda. In the latter stages of his career, Benda spent less time doing illustration and more time making masks.

       Articles by and about Benda and his masks appeared regularly in many of the same magazines and publications that carried his illustrations. In the 1930s he authored the Encyclopædia Britannica entry on masks. He also wrote a book, Masks (Watson-Guptill, 1944, currently out of print), a study of his own designs and unique construction techniques. The Polish Museum of America possesses a collection of Benda’s posters for the relief effort in Poland.

Prints sized down for dollhouse decorating.

More Links to Artworks and Illustrations by Wladyslaw T. Benda:

• The Indian Drum illustrated by Benda
• Magazine and Book Covers by Benda
• Video of his works at YouTube
• American Beauties from Library of Congress Exhibition
• Photos of Benda

“‘Edith, what did you say to Miss Comstock
 that made her run away from Phil?’”

“Elenora knelt and slipping her fingers through the leaves 
and grasses to the roots, gathered a few violets and gave them to Philip”

“‘If you had known about wonders like these in the days of your youth, 
Robert Comstock, could you ever have done the thing you did?’”

“With her lips near Elnora’s ear Polly whispered, ‘Sister! dear sister!’”

Print by Vera Stone Norman for Your Dollhouse

        Vera Stone Norman was born in Garden City in 1888. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1921. She is best known for the children’s illustrations she produced for magazine and books during the late 1920s and 30s. The majority of those books being Elementary text-books.

Above, Illustration of “brownies” (fairies) by Vera Stone Norman

Illustration of Deep Sea Divers by Vera Stone Norman.

Links to more Vera Stone Norman artworks:

• Illustrations by Vera Stone (Norman)

"Over The River and Through The Woods..."

        Here are three very lovely old prints by Currior & Ives for your dollhouse walls this coming holiday season. These depict: sleigh rides, horse drawn sleds, winter landscapes, farms in winter, domestic buildings, barns for farm animals, trees without foliage, ice on roads, farm equipment, maple syrup in large canisters, ladies with muffs, gentlemen with warm coats and gloves, ice skaters on ponds  and cloudy winter skies. In the old days, there was often freshly fallen snow on the ground several feet deep where I grew up in rural Missouri in time for Thanksgiving. Now, this is seldom true...

Three romanticized winter landscapes for your dollhouse!

"Over The River" for Thanksgiving! When
I was young, I sang this song all the time
because my grandmother did live over 
several creeks and through the woods...

Printable Paintings for your dollhouse by L. Gordon

        These free prints of dolls were made from little watercolor paintings by L. Gordon. Included are a larger set for 18" dollhouses and a smaller set for those of you who wish to decorate a dollhouse for 6 inch dolls or smaller. Click on the image before downloading to get the larger size. 

Large set of water color paintings of dolls by L. Gordon. Just a 
few of the foreign dolls from her collection. Some of these are
from Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and Poland.

Smaller set of the same doll painting collection
for tinier prints. Some dolls are dressed as
brides or in ethnic costume.

Child-Life Prints for Dollhouses

        The prints for your dollhouses below come from an antique children's book written at the turn of the last century. These children were born in the Victorian era. The themes include: riding ponies on the beach, reading in the garden, feeding pug pets, praying before bedtime, hanging doll clothes up on the clothesline, playing peek-a-boo, and talking with children outdoors. The smallish prints would look just as good in a larger dollhouse as inside of a miniature one and the topics are appropriate for little children. These are intended for personal use only. 

Printables are restored by kathy grimm.

Make a Sculpture Display Case for Your Barbie (Oops, I mean Ken.)

Ken shows off his sculptural display case; he loves
Piet for sure and he loves his primary colors. Maybe
Ken would like a bust for Napoleon too? Here you
can see a pedestal craft to display more art.

       This contemporary display unit inspired by modern artist Piet Mondrian, was crafted to show-off Ken's personal collection of sleek modern sculpture. But we will include those crafts at a later time. First you need to make the display so that Barbie's companion won't get overexcited about her displaying his valuables in precarious locations around the dream home. Places like kitchen counters, on the tops of refrigerators, or in Barbie's boudoir amongst the lipsticks and powder puffs. His stuff needs more respect than that if you know what he means . . .

Supply List:

• a recycled box the approximate size you would like to use for displaying small sculptures or interesting pottery
• masking tape
• extra cardboard
• toothpicks
• decorative papers
• white typing paper
• white school glue
• touch-up acrylic paints

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Find the perfect sized box for a modern display and then cut away the side panels.
2. Paste and mask in shelves, some of them straight and some a little crooked. 
3. Poke holes in any places where you think a selection of toothpicks might add some interesting texture and visual interest.
4. Cover a selection of walls in red, yellow, black, blue and white paper.
5. Use a little acrylic paint to touch up the white areas if you need to.
6. Brush on the Mod Podge to seal and protect Ken's display.
7. Now he only needs to find the perfect spot for the cool craft inside of Barbie's penthouse!

Left, Ken shows off the backside of the modern sculpture display case. Right, Ken shows off
his balancing skills by climbing up where he shouldn't.

• Ken's jersey sweater in the same cool colors here.
• Ken models the comfort of family life obvious on a sleigh bed with wife and kids...

Lovely Floral Still Life Paintings...

Lovely geraniums in many colors: lavender, pink, red, magenta inside of a wicker basket.

       These lovely, old-fashioned floral paintings may be resized into any proportions needed, printed on. home computer and framed for hanging in a dollhouse.

Delphinium in many shades of purple and blue in a glass vase.

Old-fashioned prints for Victorian themed dollhouses

        Elizabeth Hector illustrated children's books at the turn of the last century. I have restored three of her charming prints in three different sizes for a nursery wall inside of a Victorian dollhouse. Students may print them freely for personal projects only. Enjoy!

Victorian creeping cat, lovable sheep and red squirrels - all would look period appropriate in a
dollhouse nursery!

Dollhouse Prints for Horse Loving Dolls

        The following clip art is of four paintings by Martin Stainforth. The prints are for student personal use only. If your doll loves horses, you may print and frame these samples below to hang in your dollhouse for fun...

• Read more about the artist here.

       These prints would also be appropriate for the Daisy Hill Clubhouse if you prefer...

Horses in brown, bay and chestnut: some stand in front of fences, others in front
of stables. To download a free needlepoint pattern of a horse go here.

Tiny "hunt scenes" by watercolor artist
G. L. Harrison.

Currier & Ives Prints for The Dollhouse

"The Pioneer's Home. On The Western Frontier." Currier & Ives print for dollhouses. The
lithograph depicts fur trappers, a log cabin, a covered wagon, pet hunting dog, a forest 
glen, children with their mother, a log bridge, hay stacks fall color and barnyard animals.

        Currier and Ives lithographs depicted a variety of images of American life, including winter scenes; horse-racing images; portraits of people; and pictures of ships, sporting events, patriotic and historical events, including ferocious battles of the American Civil War, the building of cities and railroads, and Lincoln's assassination.

"Winter In The Country, The Old Grist Mill" print by Currier & Ives depicts: log buildings,
winter forest, frozen stream, snow, horse and sleigh, cloudy skies.

       The original lithographs shared similar characteristics in inking and paper, and adhered to folio sizes. Sizes of the images were standard (trade cards, very small folios, small folios, medium folios, large folios), and their measurement did not include the title or borders. These sizes are one of the guides for collectors today in determining if the print is an original or not. "Currier used a cotton based, medium to heavy weight paper depending on the folio size for his prints until the late 1860’s. 

 

"God Bless Our School." by Currier & Ives, print shows: globe, sculpture, painting with easel,
map, old text books, slates drafting tools etc...

       From about 1870, Currier & Ives used paper mixed with a small amount of wood pulp." In addition, Currier’s inking process resembled a mixture of elongated splotches and dashes of ink with a few spots, a characteristic that modern reproductions would not possess." In 1907 when the firm was liquidated most of the lithographic stones had the image removed and were sold by the pound with some stones final home as land fill in Central Park. Those few stones that managed to survive intact were of large folio Clipper Ships, small folio Dark Town Comics, a medium folio "Abraham Lincoln" and a small folio "Washington As A Mason".

Links To Currier & Ives Sites:

• Currier and Ives Tradecards
• Behind the Scenes: The Artists Who Worked for Currier and Ives
• Currier and Ives, Printmakers to the American People
• Currier and Ives print of Chicago Fire, 1871, here.

"High Water" In The Mississippi by Currier & Ives shows: people taking refuge on their roofs
during a flood, a steamboat, trees in the flood and crates and barrels floating.

Garden Watercolors by Margaret Waterfield

        These garden watercolors would look wonderful framed and hung inside of the dollhouse... I've restored their colors for our visitors to include in their doll's homes, for personal use only, not intended for redistribution on alternative websites. Enjoy!

Musical Theater Posters for A Dollhouse

        Musical theater is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theater overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theater stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. 

       The following vintage theater posters have been cleaned and resized from the public domain for young children to print and decorate their dollhouses or doll theaters with. Enjoy.

       Vintage poster for musical, "Show Boat" from a New York theater production. Read more about this popular old musical by Kern and Hammerstein.  Educators can visit this wonderful website that rates film for kids and teachers, reviews film and offers lesson plans to use while watching film. The sample lesson for Show Boat is here.

      

Poster for musical production of Oliver. Read more about music and lyrics by Lionel Bart.

You can watch Oliver for free on YouTube here from Christ University.

      

       A poster for West Side Story made for the music theater of Lincoln Center, Broadway at 64th St. The entire production by Jerome Robbins. Read here about the story behind the musical.

        Two vintage posters for Fred R. Hamlin's musical, "The Wizard of Oz." This musical version premiered at the Chicago Grand Opera House in 1902.   Experience historic reproductions of American Operettas here.

       Poster for "Hansel and Gretel" opera theater by Ralph Chesse's Marionettes with music from Humperdincks opera.   Kids can also go here to design their own opera!

Autumn Printable Paintings for Your Dollhouse

        Decorate your dollhouse this season with lovely landscape prints. These autumnal scenes were painted by George Inness "The Spirit of Autumn" and John Joseph Enneking "Call of the Wild"

George Inness "The Spirit of Autumn"

       One of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced, in turn, by the Old Masters, the Hudson River school, the Barbizon school, and, finally, the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritualism found vivid expression in the work of Inness's maturity (1879–1894). See more of his work here.

John Joseph Enneking "Call of the Wild"

       Enneking died at Boston in 1916. Shortly after his death, memorial exhibitions of his work were held at the Boston Art Club and in Portland, Maine. These were followed a decade later by two exhibitions at the Vose Galleries of Boston in 1922 and 1926. His family placed the bulk of his work in storage in an old warehouse in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. After the death of his wife Mary Katharine Elliott Enneking (November 2, 1844 — October 23 1923), the paintings were forgotten. The paintings were rediscovered in the late 1950s as the warehouse was being torn down. The Vose Galleries in Boston were again involved in promoting his work, and in 1972, in the publication of Enneking's biography. See more paintings by J. Enneking here.