Helen Sewell

{{Short description|American illustrator and writer}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Helen Sewell | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = 27 June 1896  | birth_place = Mare Island, California | death_date = 24 February 1957 (aged 60)  | death_place = New York, New York | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = Pratt Institute, Packer Collegiate Institute | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = }}

'''Helen Moore Sewell''' (June 27, 1896 – February 24, 1957) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. She won a Caldecott Medal Honor as illustrator of ''The Thanksgiving Story''<ref name= "Lynch">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Helen-Moore-Sewell Neal, Neal, Helen Moore Sewell, Britannica online]</ref> by Alice Dalgliesh and she illustrated several novels that were runners-up for the Newbery Medal. Some of her papers were donated to the University of Minnesota,<ref name= "uminn">[http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-1565.xml Helen Sewell Papers] Children's Literature Research Collections. University of Minnesota Libraries</ref> and other papers are at Cornell University. <ref>[https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM06616.html Helen Sewell papers at Cornell University]</ref>

==Early life== Sewell was born in Mare Island, California,<ref name= "uminn"/> the daughter of Minnie Moore, a watercolor artist,<ref name= "Lynch"/> and William Elbridge Sewell, a Navy commander who later became Governor of Guam.<ref name= "Women">[https://books.google.com/books?id=U9zIeyugktEC&dq=%22Helen+Sewell%22&pg=PA259 Gordon Moris Bakken & Brenda Farrington, ''Encyclopedia of Women in the American West'', page 259, SAGE, 2003]</ref> She had two younger sisters.<ref name= "Lynch"/>

Her mother died in 1901, before the family moved to Guam. Because of her father's naval career she had also lived in England, France and Sweden. Her father died before her eighth birthday, and Sewell and her sisters moved to Brooklyn to live with an aunt and uncle. At age twelve she became the youngest person to attend the Pratt Institute.<ref name= "Lynch"/> She also studied under Alexander Archipenko, who influenced her drawing style. She graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute.<ref name= "Obit">[https://www.newspapers.com/image/632993509/?terms=%22Helen%20Sewell%22&match=1 Miss Helen Sewell (obituary), ''Ridgewood Herald-News'' (Ridgewood, NJ), February 28, 1957, page 7]</ref>

==Art career== Sewell began earning money by illustrating greeting cards.<ref name= "Lynch"/> The first book she illustrated was ''The Cruise of the Little Dipper and Other Fairy Tales'', written by Susanne Langer.<ref name= "uminn"/> In 1932 Sewell was the first illustrator of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.<ref name= "Lynch"/><ref>[https://200.hc.com/timeline/1932-laura-ingalls-wilder-publishes-little-house-in-the-big-woods/ Harper Collins timeline - 1932]</ref> For the Limited Edition Club Sewell illustrated the poems of Emily Dickinson, plus Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.<ref name= "Obit"/>

Most of the characters in Sewell's art work were drawn from her imagination, and she rarely used artist models.<ref name= "Women"/> When illustrating the Little House series she consulted photographs of the Wilder family.<ref>[https://www.nocloo.com/helen-sewell-biography/ Nocloo's Helen Sewell Biography]</ref>

Starting with the 1947 book ''Three Tall Tales'' Sewell began using a comic book style to add fun to amusing stories, for children had told her that her animals were too true to life for humorous books.<ref name= "Women"/>

==Death== She died on February 24, 1957, in New York City,<ref name= "uminn"/> after a long illness.<ref name= "Women"/>

==Works illustrated==

*1923 ''The Cruise of the Little Dipper and Other Fairy Tales'', Susanne Langer *1928 ''Menagerie, Poems for Children'', Mary Britton Miller *1929 ''Mr. Hermit Crab'', Mimpsy Rhys *1932 ''Little House in the Big Woods'', Laura Ingalls Wilder *1932 ''The Dream Keeper'', Langston Hughes *1933 ''Farmer Boy'', Laura Ingalls Wilder *1934 ''A First Bible'', Jean West Maury *1934 ''Away Goes Sally'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1934 ''Bluebonnets for Lucinda'', Frances Clarke Sayers *1934 ''Cinderella'' *1935 ''Anne Frances'', Eliza Orne White *1935 ''Little House on the Prairie'', Laura Ingalls Wilder *1935 ''Mrs. Hermit Crab'', Mimpsy Rhys *1935 ''Peter and Gretchen of Old Nuremberg'', Viola M. Jones *1935 ''A Round of Carols'', T. Tertius Noble *1936 ''Ten Saints'', Eleanor Farjeon *1937 ''Baby Island'', Carol Ryrie Brink *1937 ''Old John'', Máirín Cregan *1937 ''On the Banks of Plum Creek'', Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-illustrated with Mildred Boyle) *1937 ''The Magic Hill'', A. A. Milne *1937 ''The Princess and the Apple Tree'', A. A. Milne *1938 ''The Young Brontës'', Mary Louise Jarden *1939 ''Five Bushel Farm'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1939 ''By the Shores of Silver Lake'', Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-illus. Boyle) *1940 ''The Fair American'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1939 ''The Long Winter'', Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-illus. Boyle) *1940 (edition) ''Pride and Prejudice'', Jane Austen *1941 (edition) ''The Dream Keeper and Other Poems'', Langston Hughes *1941 ''Little Town on the Prairie'', Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-illus. Boyle) *1941 ''Tag-Along Tooloo'', Frances Clarke Sayers *1942 ''The Blue-Eyed Lady'', Ferenc Molnar * 1943 ''These Happy Golden Years'', Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-illus. Boyle) – last of the original Little House books *1944 ''A Bee in Her Bonnet'', Eva Kristofferson *1944 ''The Big Green Umbrella'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1944 ''Boat Children of Canton'', Marion B. Ward *1944 ''Christmas Magic'', James S Tippett *1946 ''The Brave Bantam'', Louise Seaman *1946 ''Once There Was a Little Boy'', Dorothy Kunhardt *1946 ''The Wonderful Day'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1947 ''Three Tall Tales'', Helen Sewell and Eleska *1948 ''All Around the Town'', Phyllis McGinley *1948 ''Azor'', Maude Crowley *1949 ''Azor and the Haddock'', Maude Crowley *1951 ''Azor and the Blue-Eyed Cow'', Maude Crowley *1951 ''Secrets and Surprises'', Irmegarde Ebertle *1952 ''The Bears on Hemlock Mountain'', Alice Dalgliesh *1952 ''The Colonel's Squad'', Alf Evers *1952 ''Mrs. McThing'', Mary Ellen Chase (co-illus. Madeleine Gekiere) *1952 (edition) ''Poems'', Emily Dickinson *1952 ''The White Horse'', Elizabeth Coatsworth *1953 ''Ten Saints'', Eleanor Farjeon *1954 ''The Thanksgiving Story'', Alice Dalgliesh *1955 ''The Three Kings of Saba'', Alf Evers *1957 (edition) ''Sense and Sensibility'', Jane Austen

=== Books she wrote and illustrated ===

* 1931 ''A Head for Happy'', Helen Sewell * 1932 ''Words to the Wise'', Helen Sewell * 1933 ''Blue Barns'', Helen Sewell *1936 ''Ming and Mehitable'', Helen Sewell *1936 ''Peggy and the Pony'', Helen Sewell *1940 ''Jimmy and Jemima'', Helen Sewell *1941 ''Peggy and the Pup'', Helen Sewell *1944 ''Belinda the Mouse'', Helen Sewell *1944 ''Birthdays for Robin'', Helen Sewell

==See also== {{Portal bar |Children's literature |Visual arts}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=51345}} * {{FadedPage|id=Sewell, Helen|name=Helen Sewell|author=yes}} * {{LCAuth|n79078121|Helen Sewell|55|}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Helen}} Category:1896 births Category:1957 deaths Category:American children's book illustrators Category:American children's writers Category:American women children's writers Category:Artists from Vallejo, California Category:Writers from Vallejo, California Category:20th-century American women artists Category:American women children's book illustrators Category:20th-century American illustrators