Top of page

Exhibition Drawn to Purpose

Drawn to Purpose

Seeing With a Child's Eyes

Jessie Willcox Smith (1863–1935). He Looked Up at the Broad Yellow Moon and Thought That She Looked at Him, 1916. Published in Charles Kingsley The Water Babies, 1916. Charcoal, watercolor, and oil. Gift of the artist, 1935. Cabinet of American Illustration, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (005.00.00)
LC–DIG–ppmsc–05892
Enlarge

Seeing With a Child's Eyes

Jessie Willcox Smith displays her powers of imagination and ability to evoke the innocent gaze of childhood in this enchanting, moonlit scene. One of twelve large, lavish drawings that Smith produced in 1916 for color plates in The Water-Babies, this illustration belongs among her most loved and admired works. Upon her death in 1935 she bequeathed the illustrations to the Library. Over her long career, Smith created drawings for many classics of children's literature.