At the turn of the century a woman named Maud Humphrey (March 30, 1868 – November 22, 1940) created artwork that was extremely popular. Some of it appeared on calendars, advertisements, children’s books, and greeting cards. By the late 19th century she was one of the best known illustrators of children, helping to sell watches, soap, baby food, and more. Since we’re approaching Christmas, I thought it would be nice to display some of her Christmas cards. You can see why people loved her work.
She was a modern American woman of the times, active in the suffragist movement and a working wife. She even kept her maiden name.
Interesting to me is that she also illustrated children’s books. You’ve probably seen her work in Mother Goose, Babes of the Year, Sleepy Time Stories, and Little Colonial Dame. Below is her Little Bo Peep.
There is something else people remember about this woman: she was Humphrey Bogart’s mother. He was born on Christmas Day. While it’s said that she used her later-to-be-famous son as a model for her illustrations for Mellin’s Baby Food, I couldn’t determine which one might be him. There are several that predate him. I don’t know the date for the one below, so it’s possible this is him. In any case, if you’d heard that Humphrey Bogart was the original Gerber baby, that’s not true. That came much later and Maud was not the illustrator. It’s one of those myths that keep circulating.
Maud was a commercial artist. Her images because cards and postcards later and she likely wasn’t paid for that. She was, at the height of her career, making up to $50,000/year, which was quite a lot for those days. Her husband was a doctor. He grew ill during the Great Depression and their wealth evaporated. After his death Humphrey Bogart had to pay off his mother’s debts and he moved to her Hollywood. When she died her death certificate read “housewife.” That wasn’t quite accurate.
History fascinates me!
