{{short description|American artist and children's writer (1893–1946)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox writer | birth_name = Wanda Hazel Gag | image = Wanda Gág.jpg | alt = formal, hip height portrait of young woman with long hair pulled up into a knot, wearing long sleeved dark velvet dress with light collar, holding a paintbrush and palette | caption = Gág in December 1916 <!--no source; File page gives only 2014 upload date--> | pseudonym = | birth_date = March 11, 1893 | birth_place = New Ulm, Minnesota, US | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1946|6|27|1893|3|11}} | death_place = New York City, US | occupation = {{hlist|Artist|writer|translator}} | genre = Children's literature | notableworks = ''Millions of Cats'' (1928) | awards = {{ubl|Newbery Honor|Caldecott Honor}} }}
'''Wanda Hazel Gág''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɑː|ɡ}} {{Respell|GAHG}}; March 11, 1893 – June 27, 1946) was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is best known for writing and illustrating the children's book ''Millions of Cats'', the oldest American picture book still in print.<ref>Gregory, Alice. "[https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/juicy-as-a-pear-wanda-ggs-delectable-books Juicy As a Pear: Wanda Gág's Delectable Books]". ''The New Yorker'', April 24, 2014.</ref> Gág was also a noted print-maker, receiving international recognition and awards.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=71–77}} ''Growing Pains'', a book of excerpts from the diaries of her teen and young adult years, received widespread critical acclaim.<ref>Hoyle, Karen Nelson, "Introduction", in {{harvnb |Gág |1984 |p=xviii}}</ref> Two of her books were awarded Newbery Honors and two received Caldecott Honors. The New York Public Library included ''Millions of Cats'' on its 2013 list of 100 Great Children's Books.<ref name="The New York Public Library 2013">{{cite web |title=100 Great Children's Books {{!}} 100 Years (2013) |website=The New York Public Library |year=2013 |url=https://www.nypl.org/childrens-100-books-of-2013 |access-date=2024-01-26}}</ref>
==Early years== thumb|left|upright|alt=shoulder high charcoal or pencil portrait drawn on a grocery bag of young woman with deep dark eyes, lighter bangs|Gág self-portrait (1915) Wanda Hazel Gág was born March 11, 1893, in the German-speaking community of New Ulm, Minnesota,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://libguides.mnhs.org/wgag|title = LibGuides: Wanda Gág: Illustrator & Author: Overview}}</ref> to Elisabeth ({{nee}} Biebl) Gag and the artist and photographer Anton Gag. The eldest of seven siblings, Wanda was 15 when her father died of tuberculosis.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=2}} His final words to her were: "{{lang|de|Was der Papa nicht thun konnt', muss die Wanda halt fertig machen.}}" ({{Translation|What Papa couldn't do, Wanda will just have to finish.}}){{sfn |Gág |1984 |p=xxxi}}
Following his death, the family was on county relief (what served for "welfare" in 1908) and some townspeople thought that Wanda should quit high school and get a steady job to help support her family. Despite this pressure, Wanda continued with her high school education. While still a teenager her illustrated story ''Robby Bobby in Mother Goose Land'' was published in ''The Minneapolis Journal'' in their ''Junior Journal'' supplement.{{sfn|Cox|1975|p=250}} After graduating in June 1912, she taught country school in Springfield, Minnesota, from November 1912 to June 1913.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=89}}
==Art school== In 1913, Gág began a platonic relationship with University of Minnesota medical student Edgar T. Herrmann who exposed her to new ideas in art, politics and philosophy.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=5}} With a scholarship (and the aid of friends), she attended The Saint Paul School of Art in 1913 and 1914.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=2}} From 1914 to 1917 she attended The Minneapolis School of Art under the patronage of Herschel V. Jones.{{sfn |Gág |1984 |p=314}}{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=4}} While there, she became friends with Harry Gottlieb and Adolf Dehn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/ead.html?q=Wanda+Gag+Papers|title=Wanda Gág papers, 1892–1968|website=dla.library.upenn.edu}}</ref> Her first illustrated book commission (as Wanda Gäg) was ''A Child’s Book of Folk-Lore— Mechanics of Written English'' by Jean Sherwood Rankin (1917).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006536867|title=Mechanics of written English: a drill in the use of caps and points through the rimes of Mother Goose|first1=Jean Sherwood|last1=Rankin|first2=Wanda|last2=Gág|date=November 20, 1917|publisher=Augsburg Publishing House|via=HathiTrust}}</ref> thumb|right|upright|alt=Pen and ink full length portrait of man with scoliosis walking with a cane wearing tall hat, dark coat and sandals, with cat and a home visible|Crooked Man from Mother Goose rhyme in ''Mechanics of Written English'' (1917)
==New York== On March 21, 1917, Gág sent drawings to the Annual Competition hosted by Art Students League of New York{{sfn |Gág |1984 |pp=458–459}} and won a one year scholarship{{sfn|Gág|1984|p=459}} to the New York Art Student’s League where she took classes in composition, etching and advertising illustration. By 1919, Gág was earning her living as a commercial illustrator.{{sfn|Hoyle|2009|pp=8–10}}
During her time in New York she became a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists. In 1921, she became a partner in a business venture called ''Happiwork Story Boxes''. The boxes were decorated with picture story panels on each side.{{sfn|Hoyle|2009|pp=10-13}} thumb|Cover of Happiwork Packages game for children, Circa 1921 An illustration of Gág's was published in ''Broom: An International Magazine of the Arts'' in 1921.<ref name="Gág 1921 p. 185">{{cite journal |last=Gág |first=Wanda |title=Charcoal Drawing |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3352520?urlappend=%3Bseq=196%3Bownerid=9007199274086381-210 |editor-last=Loeb |editor-first=Harold A. |editor-link=Harold A. Loeb |journal=Broom: An International Magazine of the Arts |volume=1 |number=2 |publisher=Published by Americans in Italy, Harold A. Loeb Broom Publishing Company, Inc |publication-place=Rome |date=December 1921 |issn=0524-7071 |oclc=1348131819 |page=185 |hdl=2027/uc1.b3352520?urlappend=%3Bseq=196 |via=HathiTrust}}</ref> Gág's art exhibition in the New York Public Library in 1923 was her first solo show. She began signing her name "Gág" around this time.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=13}}
In 1924, Gág's work was published in a short-lived folio-style magazine with artist William Gropper.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=15}} In 1925 she created a series of illustrated crossword puzzles for children that was syndicated in several newspapers.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=239}} She began to sell her lithographs, linoleum block prints, water colors and drawings through the Weyhe Gallery where she had developed a relationship with its manager, Carl Zigrosser.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=239}}{{sfn |L'Enfant |2002 |p=123}}<ref name="M.P. 1926-11-13 pp. 90–91">{{cite magazine |author=M.P. |title=The Art Galleries: If You Don't Like What We Like, You Know What You Can Do |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_the-new-yorker_1926-11-13_2_39/page/90/mode/2up |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=2 |issue=39 |publisher=F-R Pub. Corp., D. Carey Condé Nast Publications |publication-place=New York |date=1926-11-13 |issn=0028-792X |oclc=1760231 |pages=90–91 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Gág's one-woman-show there in 1927 led to her acclamation as "...one of America’s most promising young graphic artists..."{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=246, 247}}
In 1927, her article ''These Modern Women: A Hotbed of Feminists'' was published in ''The Nation'', drawing the attention of Alfred Stieglitz and prompting Egmont Arens to write: "The way you solved that problem (her relationship with men) seems to me to be the most illuminating part of your career. You have done what all the other ‘modern women’ are still talking about."{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=36, 71}}{{sfn |L'Enfant |2002 |p=130}} Gág’s illustrations were published on the covers of the leftist magazines ''The New Masses'' and ''The Liberator''.{{sfn |Hemingway |2002 |pp=9, 11}}<ref name="Hennepin History Museum - 2023">{{cite web |title=Wanda Gág: From Childhood to All Creation |website=Hennepin History Museum |date=2023-08-01 |url=https://hennepinhistory.org/wanda-gag-from-childhood-to-all-creation/ |access-date=2024-01-17}}</ref> thumb|right|upright|alt=full length portrait of young woman with short hair seated working with a pencil on a litho stone|Gág preparing lithographic stone (1932)
In a 1929 ''New York Times'' review, Elisabeth Luther Cary described Gág's print ''Stone Crusher'': "Pure imagination leaps out from dusky shadows and terrifies with light, an emotional source difficult to analyze."<ref name="Cary 1929">{{cite news |last=Cary |first=Elisabeth Luther |author-link=Elisabeth Luther Cary |title=Watercolors and Prints |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1929-12-15 |page=12 sec. X |volume=79 |number=26,258 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/15/92031699.pdf |url-access=subscription |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
For a 1934 auction organized by Langston Hughes to raise funds for the defense of the Scottsboro Boys, Gág contributed an original drawing from ''ABC Bunny'', "'F' is for Frog."<ref name="Freedman 2021">{{cite web |last=Freedman |first=Paula B. |title=19 March 2021: Edward Weston, Langston Hughes and the Scottsboro Boys Legal Defense Fund |website=Edward Weston Bibliography |date=2021-03-20 |url=https://edwardwestonbibliography.blog/2021/03/19/19-march-2021-edward-weston-langston-hughes-and-the-scottsdale-boys-legal-defense-fund/ |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref><ref name="NCDPP 1934">{{cite web |last=National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners |author-link=National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners |title=Scottsboro exhibition and sale notes and press release |others=Bequest of Langson Hughes |website=Yale University Library |date=1934 |url=https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17034193 |at=Image 26, item 8 |access-date=2024-01-20}}</ref>
Her work was recognized internationally and was selected for inclusion in the American Institute of Graphic Arts ''Fifty Prints of the Year'' in 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1936, 1937 and 1938.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=72–76}} Her work was featured in exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art in 1934, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1941.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/artists/472|title=Wanda Gág|website=whitney.org}}</ref> In 1939 Gág's work was shown at The Museum of Modern Art exhibition ''Art in Our Time'' and at the New York World's Fair ''American Art Today'' show.{{sfn |L'Enfant |2002 |p=156}}
==Works for children== [[File:Wanda Gag-Millions of Cats.jpg|thumb|left|''Millions of Cats'' (1928)]] In 1927 Gág's illustrated story ''Bunny's Easter Egg'' was published in ''John Martin's Book'', a magazine for children.<ref name="Gág 1927">{{cite journal |last=Gág |first=Wanda |title=Bunny's Easter Egg |editor-last=Martin |editor-first=John |editor-link=Morgan van Roorbach Shepard |journal=John Martin's Book: The Child's Magazine |publisher=John Martin's House, Inc. |publication-place=New York |year=1927 |volume=35 |issue=4 |oclc=2253489 |pages=}}{{pages needed|date=January 2024}}</ref> Gág's work caught the attention of Ernestine Evans, director of Coward-McCann's children's book division. Evans was delighted to learn that Gág had children's stories and illustrations in her folio and asked her to submit her own story with illustrations. The result, ''Millions of Cats'', had been developed from a story that Gág had written to entertain the children of friends. It was published in 1928.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|p=36}} Anne Carroll Moore wrote: <blockquote> It bears all the hallmarks of becoming a perennial favorite among children, and it takes a place of its own, both for the originality and strength of its pictures and the living folk-tale quality of its text. A book of universal interest to children living anywhere in the world… A kinship with all children made her respect their intelligence, and gave them at once ease and joy in her company. With as sure an instinct for the right word for the ear, as for the right line for the eye, Wanda Gág became quite unconsciously a regenerative force in the field of children's books.<ref>''Millions of Cats'' dust jacket, second edition, 1928</ref><ref name="Somerset Publishers 2000 pp. 124–126">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Gag, Wanda Hazel (1893–1946) |url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotabiograp0000unse/page/124/mode/2up |url-access=registration |encyclopedia=Minnesota Biographical Dictionary |publisher=Somerset Publishers |publication-place=St. Clair Shores, MI |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-403-09674-9 |oclc=44031731 |page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotabiograp0000unse/page/124/mode/2up 124]–[https://archive.org/details/minnesotabiograp0000unse/page/126/mode/2up 126] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> </blockquote>''Millions of Cats'' won a Newbery Honor award in 1929, one of the few picture books to do so. It is the oldest American picture book still in print.<ref name="library">{{cite web|url=http://www.myrcpl.com/children/book-lists/millions-cats-wanda-gag-january-2005|title=Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág|work=The Wild Place|publisher=Richland County Public Library|accessdate=20 November 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714144327/http://www.myrcpl.com/children/book-lists/millions-cats-wanda-gag-january-2005|archivedate=14 July 2011}}</ref> It entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2024/|title=Public Domain Day 2024 | Duke University School of Law|website=web.law.duke.edu}}</ref>
In 1935 Gág published the "proto-feminist" ''Gone is Gone; or, the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework''.<ref name="Popova 2014">{{cite web |last=Popova |first=Maria |author-link=Maria Popova |title=The Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework: A Proto-Feminist Children's Book from 1935 |website=The Marginalian |date=2014-07-08 |url=https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/07/08/wanda-gag-gone-is-gone/ |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref>
To encourage the reading of fairy-tales, Gág translated and illustrated ''Tales from Grimm'' in 1936. English critic Humbert Wolfe, commenting on Gág's translation, wrote: "From the very first page it was clear that Miss Gág was chopping away a perfect brushwood of clumsy phraseology to let in the light."<ref name="Wolfe 1937">{{cite news |last=Wolfe |first=Humbert |author-link=Humbert Wolfe |title=Golden Lads and Lasses: A Shelf of Fairy-Books |via=Newspapers.com |date=1937-12-05 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-golden-lads-and-lasses-a-s/139003118/ |journal=The Observer |number=7,645 |publisher=Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd |publication-place=London |issn=0029-7712 |access-date=2024-01-18 |page=17}}</ref> Two years later she translated and illustrated the Grimm story ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' in reaction to the "trivialized, sterilized, and sentimentalized" Disney movie version.{{sfn|James|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/168/mode/2up 169]–[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/170/mode/2up 171]}} Her essay ''I Like Fairy Tales'' was published in the March 1939 issue of ''The Horn Book Magazine''. ''More Tales from Grimm'' was published posthumously in 1947. Four of her translated fairy tales were later released with illustrations by Margot Tomes.
==Personal life== Gág enjoyed living and working in the country. In the early 1920s she spent summers drawing at various locations in rural New York and Connecticut.{{sfn|Hoyle|2009|pp=10-13}} She rented a three-acre farm called "Tumble Timbers" in Glen Gardner, New Jersey, from 1925 to 1930. In 1931 she bought a larger farm she named "All Creation" in Milford, New Jersey.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=71–73}}<ref name="Anderson 2021">{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=Phil |title=Gág, Wanda (1893–1946) |website=MNopedia | date=June 29, 2021 |url=https://www.mnopedia.org/person/g-g-wanda-1893-1946 |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref> Two of her siblings, {{ill|Flavia Gág|lt=Flavia|qid=Q124322579|short=yes}} and Howard, lived there with her.<ref name="Dobbs 1935 pp. 367–373">{{cite journal |last=Dobbs |first=Rose |title="ALL CREATION": Wanda Gag and Her Family |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_horn-book-magazine_november-december-1935_11_6/page/366/mode/2up |journal=The Horn Book |volume=11 |issue=6 |publisher=The Bookshop for Boys and Girls, Women's Educational and Industrial Union |publication-place=Boston, MA, US |date=November–December 1935 |issn=2693-5120 |oclc=614950421 |pages=367–373 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Gág's brother Howard contributed the hand lettering in ''Millions of Cats'' and ''The ABC Bunny''.{{sfn |James |2002 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/168/mode/2up 169]–[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/170/mode/2up 171]}}<ref name="University of Minnesota Press 2011">{{cite web |title=The ABC Bunny |website=University of Minnesota Press |date=2011-03-10 |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-abc-bunny |access-date=2024-01-20}}</ref> Gág encouraged her sister Flavia to create illustrated books for children.{{sfn |Fuller |1977 |pp=96–97}}
In addition to Earle Humphreys (her long-time paramour and business manager), Gág had, sometimes concurrently, other lovers: Adolph Dehn, Lewis Gannett, Carl Zigrosser, and Dr. Hugh Darby. She married Humphreys on August 27, 1943.{{sfn|Winnan|1993|pp=9, 44, 55, 61}}
Gág died from lung cancer in New York City, aged 53, on June 27, 1946.{{sfn |L'Enfant |2002 |p=165}}
==Legacy== ===Memorials=== [[File:GagHouse.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=Two-story green home with some orange-red sections in Victorian style with dramatic rooftop ornaments, open second floor turret porch|Wanda Gág’s childhood home in New Ulm, Minnesota, is now a museum known as the Wanda Gág House.]] Gág was honored by ''The Horn Book Magazine'' in a tribute issue in 1947.<ref name="IN TRIBUTE TO WANDA GAG 1947">{{cite journal |title=IN TRIBUTE TO WANDA GAG |journal=The Horn Book |volume=23 |issue=3 |publisher=The Bookshop for Boys and Girls, Women's Educational and Industrial Union |publication-place=Boston, MA, US |date=May–June 1947 |issn=2693-5120 |oclc=614950421 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_horn-book-magazine_may-june-1947_23_3 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Her childhood home in New Ulm, Minnesota has been restored and is now the Wanda Gág House, a museum that offers tours and educational programs.<ref>[http://www.wandagaghouse.org/ Wanda Gág House], accessed June 2012</ref> thumb|Statue of Gág with cat at New Ulm public Library In 1992, ''Millions of Cats'' was featured on the television series ''Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories'', narrated by James Earl Jones.<ref name="Blakey 1993">{{cite news |last=Blakey |first=Scott |title=DUVALL STRIKES AGAIN WITH 'BEDTIME STORIES' |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |agency=Los Angeles Times Syndicate |date=1993-03-11 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-03-11-9303191138-story.html |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref> A bronze sculpture of Gág (with one of her cats) by Jason Jaspersen was erected at the public library of New Ulm, Minnesota, in 2016.<ref name="JJJaspersen Studios 2016">{{cite web |title=Wanda Gag Monument |website=JJJaspersen Studios |date=2016-08-31 |url=https://www.jjjaspersen.com/wanda |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref><ref name="Schuldt 2016">{{cite news |last=Schuldt |first=Clay |title=Wanda Gag sculpture unveiled at NU Library |date=2016-11-26 |url=https://www.nujournal.com/news/local-news/2016/11/26/wanda-gag-sculpture-unveiled-at-nu-library/ |newspaper=The Journal |publication-place=New Ulm, MN |issn=1059-1338 |oclc=1020530107 |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref> In 2017 The Sandbox Theatre in Minneapolis produced ''In The Treetops'', a new play that focused on Gág's childhood years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sandboxtheatreonline.com/in-the-treetops-2017/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916010759/http://www.sandboxtheatreonline.com/in-the-treetops-2017/ |archive-date=September 16, 2017 |title=In The Treetops (2017) {{!}}}}</ref>
===Awards=== The books ''Millions of Cats'' and ''The ABC Bunny'' were recipients of a Newbery Honor.<ref name="ALSC Newbery 2023">{{cite web |title=Newbery Medal Winners & Honor Books, 1922 – Present |website=Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) |date=2023-02-13 |url=https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newbery-medals-honors-1922-present.pdf|access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref> Both ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and ''Nothing at All'' received a Caldecott Honor.<ref name="ALSC Caldecott 2023">{{cite web |title=Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938 to present |website=Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) |date=2023-06-01 |url=https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecott-medal-honors-to-present.pdf}}</ref>
Wanda Gág was posthumously honored with The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958,<ref name="Davis 1961 pp. 549–552">{{cite journal |last=Davis |first=David C. |title=A Tool for the Selection of Children's Books: The Lewis Carroll Shelf Awards |journal=Elementary English |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |volume=38 |issue=8 |year=1961 |issn=0013-5968 |jstor=41385201 |pages=549–552 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41385201 |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref> and the Kerlan Award in 1977.<ref name="UMN Libraries Kerlan Award 2023">{{cite web |title=The Kerlan Award |website=University of Minnesota Libraries |date=2023-10-10 |url=https://www.lib.umn.edu/collections/special/clrc/kerlan-award |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref>
In 2018, Gág was posthumously honored with the Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators.<ref name="Schuldt 2018">{{cite news |last=Schuldt |first=Clay |title=Wanda Gág awarded Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award |newspaper=The Journal |publication-place=New Ulm, MN |issn=1059-1338 |oclc=1020530107 |date=2018-11-14 |url=https://www.nujournal.com/news/local-news/2018/11/14/wanda-gag-awarded-original-art-lifetime-achievement-award/ |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref><ref name="Society of Illustrators 2024-01-19">{{cite web |title=The Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award |website=Society of Illustrators |url=https://societyillustrators.org/lifetime-achievement-award/ |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref>
The [https://www.mnstate.edu/library/curriculum-materials-center/comstock-gag-read-aloud/wanda-gag Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Award] is awarded each year by the Minnesota State University Moorhead.<ref name="Minnesota State University Moorhead">{{cite web |title=Comstock-Gág Read Aloud Book Awards Program MSUM CMC |website= Minnesota State University Moorhead |url=https://www.mnstate.edu/library/curriculum-materials-center/comstock-gag-read-aloud/ |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref>
===Archives=== Gág's prints, drawings, and watercolors are in the collections of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts,<ref name="Minneapolis Institute of Art">{{cite web |title=Wanda Gág |website=Minneapolis Institute of Art |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/search/wanda%20g%C3%A1g |access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref> The Whitney Museum,<ref name="Whitney Museum of American Art">{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/artists/472|title=Wanda Gag|website=Whitney Museum of American Art|access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref> The Museum of Modern Art,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/2047-wanda-gag|title=Wanda Gág | MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art}}</ref> The Philadelphia Museum of Art,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://philamuseum.org/collection/curated/wanda-gag-drawings-and-prints|title=Wanda Gág|website=philamuseum.org}}</ref> and other museums around the world. Gág's papers, manuscripts and matrices are held in the Kerlan Collection<ref name="Wanda Gág Collection @UM">{{cite web |title=Collection: Wanda Gág Collection |website=University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides |url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/4/resources/3507 |id=CLRC-29 |access-date=2024-01-24}}</ref> at the University of Minnesota, The New York Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia, The Kislak Collection at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries,<ref name="Wanda Gág papers UPenn">{{cite web |title=Wanda Gág papers, 1892-1968. |website=franklin.library.upenn.edu |url=https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9927068253503681 |access-date=2024-08-18}}</ref> and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.{{sfn |Mendelsohn |1983 |p=308}}
===Exhibitions=== The Whitney Museum presented a small retrospective (18 prints and two books) of her work, March through December 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/arts/design/wanda-gag-artist-whitney-museum.html|title='Millions of Cats' and Prints for Grown-Ups: Wanda Gág at the Whitney|last=Mimms|first=Walker|website=New York Times|date=1 August 2024|access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/wanda-gags-world|title=Wanda Gág's World|website=Whitney Museum|date=28 March 2024|access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref> In 2025, the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibited her work in ''Wanda Gág: Art for Life’s Sake''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wanda Gág: Art for Life’s Sake |url=https://philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/wanda-gag-art-for-lifes-sake |access-date=2025-07-27 |website=philamuseum.org |language=en}}</ref>
==Works== ===Books=== Writer and illustrator: *''Batiking at Home: a Handbook for Beginners'', Coward McCann, 1926 *''Millions of Cats'', Coward McCann, 1928 *''The Funny Thing'', Coward McCann, 1929 *''Snippy and Snappy'', Coward McCann, 1931 *''Wanda Gág’s Storybook'' (includes Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, Snippy and Snappy), Coward McCann, 1932 *''The ABC Bunny'', Coward McCann, 1933 *''Gone is Gone; or, the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework'', Coward McCann, 1935 *''Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908–1917'', Coward McCann, 1940 *''Nothing At All'', Coward McCann, 1941
Translator and illustrator: *''Tales from Grimm'', Coward McCann, 1936 *''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', Coward McCann, 1938 *''Three Gay Tales from Grimm'', Coward McCann, 1943 *''More Tales from Grimm'', Coward McCann, 1947
Illustrator only: *''A Child’s Book of Folk-Lore— Mechanics of Written English'', by Jean Sherwood Rankin, Augsburg, 1917 *''The Oak by the Waters of Rowan'', by Spencer Kellogg Jr, Aries Press, New York, 1927 *''The Day of Doom'', by Michael Wigglesworth, Spiral Press, 1929 *''Pond Image and Other Poems'', by Johan Egilsrud, Lund Press, Minneapolis, 1943
Translator only: *''The Six Swans'', illustrations by Margot Tomes, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1974 *''Wanda Gág's Jorinda and Joringel'', illustrations by Margot Tomes, Putnam, 1978 *''Wanda Gag's the Sorcerer's Apprentice'' illustrations by Margot Tomes, Putnam, 1979 *''Wanda Gag's The Earth Gnome'', illustrations by Margot Tomes, Putnam, 1985 *''The Sweet Porridge,'' illustrations by Jill McDonald [et al.], Methuen Educational, 1966.
===Selected prints=== *[https://art.famsf.org/wanda-gag/airtight-stove-19633025240 Airtight Stove], 1933 *[https://collections.artsmia.org/art/57404/backyard-corner-wanda-gag Backyard Corner], 1930 *[https://collections.artsmia.org/art/49810/evening-wanda-gag Evening], 1929 *[https://collections.artsmia.org/art/57400/the-forge-wanda-gag The Forge], 1932. *[https://collections.artsmia.org/art/49762/gumbo-lane-wanda-gag Gumbo Lane], c. 1928 *[https://digital.grinnell.edu/islandora/object/faulconer-art%3A2511 Macy’s Stairway], 1940–41 *[https://6.api.artsmia.org/800/49797.jpg Spinning Wheel], 1927 *[https://art.famsf.org/sites/default/files/artwork/gag/3154201309250035.jpg Ploughed Fields], 1936 *[https://art.famsf.org/sites/default/files/artwork/gag/3154201307960072.jpg Winter Garden], 1936
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite journal |last=Cox |first=Richard W. |title=Wanda Gág: The Bite of the Picture Book |journal=Minnesota History |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press, Minnesota Historical Society |volume=44 |issue=7 |date=Fall 1975 |issn=0026-5497 |jstor=20178372 |pages=238–254 |url=https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i07p238-254.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520133342/https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i07p238-254.pdf |archive-date=2023-05-20 |url-status=dead}} *{{cite book |last=Fuller |first=Muriel |chapter=Flavia Gág |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/morejuniorauthor00full/page/96/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=More Junior Authors |publisher=Wilson |publication-place=New York |year=1977 |orig-year=1963 |isbn=978-0-8242-0036-7 |oclc=256628824 |pages=96–97 |url=https://archive.org/details/morejuniorauthor00full/page |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}} *{{cite book |last=Gág |first=Wanda |title=Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908–1917 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |publication-place=St. Paul |year=1984 |orig-year=1940 |isbn=978-0-87351-173-5 |oclc=1149248948 |url=https://archive.org/details/growingpainsdiar0000gagw |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}} *{{cite book |last=Hemingway |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Hemingway |title=Artists on the Left: American Artists and the Communist Movement 1926–1956 |publisher=Yale University Press |publication-place=New Haven |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-300-24701-5 |oclc=1081423705 |doi=10.37862/aaeportal.00025}} *{{cite book |last=Hoyle |first=Karen Nelson |title=Wanda Gág: A Life of Art and Stories |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |publication-place=Minneapolis |year=2009 |orig-year=1994 |oclc=691601174 |isbn=978-0-8166-6771-0}} *{{cite book |last=James |first=J. Alison |editor-last=Silvey |editor-first=Anita |editor-link=Anita Silvey |chapter=Gág, Wanda |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/168/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co. |publication-place=Boston |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-618-19082-9 |oclc=52741053 |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |page=[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/168/mode/2up 169]–[https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv/page/170/mode/2up 171]}} *{{cite book |last=L'Enfant |first=Julie |title=The Gág Family: German-Bohemian artists in America |publisher=Afton Historical Society Press |publication-place=Afton, MN |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-890434-50-2 |oclc=1193959621 |url=https://archive.org/details/gagfamilygermanb0000lenf/page/n7/mode/2up |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}} *{{cite book |last=Mendelsohn |first=Leonard R. |chapter=GÁG, Wanda (Hazel) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury02edunse/page/308/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |editor-last=Kirkpatrick |editor-first=Daniel Lane |title=Twentieth-century children's writers |publisher=St. Martin's Press |publication-place=New York |year=1983 | isbn=978-0-312-82414-3 |oclc=1285853170 |page=308 |url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury02edunse |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}} *{{cite book |last=Winnan |first=Audur H. |title=Wanda Gág: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Prints |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |publication-place=Washington |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-56098-221-0 |oclc=1391898416 |url=https://archive.org/details/wandagagcatalogu0000winn |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}} {{refend}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Alma |title=Wanda Gág: The Story of an Artist |publisher=Literary Licensing |publication-place=[Whitefish, Montana] |year=2013 |orig-year=1949 |isbn=978-1-4940-5764-0 |oclc=594370933}}
==External links== {{commons category|Wanda Gág}} {{wikisource|works=or}} {{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksby=yes|viaf=14845492}} * {{FadedPage|id=Gág, Wanda|name=Wanda Gág|author=yes}} * [http://www.mnopedia.org/person/g-g-wanda-1893-1946 Wanda Gág in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia] * [https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.4151.html#works Works by Wanda Gág], National Gallery of Art * [https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/186_gag.html Wanda Gág – Rights and Restrictions Information] (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress) * [http://www.wandagaghouse.org/ Wanda Gág House] * Collection summary to the [http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-29.xml Wanda Gág Papers] at the [https://www.lib.umn.edu/clrc University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections] * Finding aid to the [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl310 Wanda Gág papers] at the [http://www.library.upenn.edu/ University of Pennsylvania Libraries] * Finding aid to the [http://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/9555.htm Wanda Gág papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013034302/http://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/9555.htm |date=October 13, 2020 }} at Penn State University's Special Collections Library * {{LCAuth|n78089816|Wanda Gág|52|}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkJoisSvJXM Overview of Wanda Gag archives at University of Minnesota Kerlan Collection], ''All About Kids! TV Series'' #259 (1998) {{Portal bar|Children's literature}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gag, Wanda}} Category:1893 births Category:1946 deaths Category:20th-century American illustrators Category:20th-century American painters Category:20th-century American printmakers Category:20th-century American women artists Category:American children's book illustrators Category:American children's writers Category:American fantasy artists Category:American people of Czech descent Category:American women children's writers Category:American women children's book illustrators Category:American women printmakers Category:Artists from Minnesota Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Category:Illustrators of fairy tales Category:Newbery Honor winners Category:People from New Ulm, Minnesota Category:Writers from Minnesota Category:Writers from New Jersey