Wanda Gag (1893-1946)

Wanda Gag was the first of seven children in a family which encouraged self-expression in all areas of creative arts.  Her father Anton was the son of a woodcarver who brought his family to Minnesota from their native forest of Bohemia in 1873.  Anton was an accomplished easel painter, photographer, and muralist.  Wanda's mother Elizabeth "Lissi" was a creative, expressive influence.

Wanda Gag was very close to her father who died when she was just fifteen.  His death created an emotional as well as financial drain on the family.  However, her father's last words were this, "What papa was unable to accomplish, Wanda will have to finish."  Wanda perservered by uniting her art with familial obligations.  She designed and sold greeting cards, place cards, and offered art lessons.  She also submitted illustrations toi various magazines.

Gag's enterprising accomplishments allowed her to continue with her art, contribute to the family income, and stay in high school to graduate in 1912.  Gag attended the St. Paul School of Art on scholarships from 1913-14 and the Minneapolis School of Art from 1914-17.  In April of 1917, Gag and classmate Adolf Dehn each won scholarships to the Art Students League in New York, a prestigious acheivement.  This good fortune however was complicated by the death of Gag's mother that same year.

Wanda Gag did attend the League (1917-18) and was encouraged by teachers such as John sloan, Kenneth Hayes Miller and F.V. DuMond.  She refused a second scholarship and began working various commercial jobs to support her brother and sisters until they became independent.

Inspired by Thoreau's "Walden" and Hamun's "Growth of the Soul", Gag decided to "go native" as she called it and rented a secluded cottage in rural Ridgefield, Connecticut.  In these surroundings she drew and painted with fervor and it was here that she first employed sandpaper for watercolor and ink washes, a process uniquely her own.

Wanda participated in a cooperative magazine with William Gropper, Moses Soyer, and Maurice Sterne  called "Folio" in 1924.  That same year, Wanda Gag had a joint showing with William Gropper at the New York Public Library.

In 1925, the Weyhe Gallery began respresenting her work.  In 1926, Gag's first solo show took place there.  Well received by critics,  the New Yorker's Murdock Pemberton wrote: "Miss Gag draws as few Americans can...Miss Gag goes in for beauty and the homely quality of familiar things...We have seen no lithographs or drawings we liked as much since the show of Matisse two years ago."

Wanda Gag moved from rural Connecticut to northern New Jersey, settling in a run down farm she christened "Tumble Timbers."  The move triggered a very productive artistic period.  It was during this time that Gag refined her printing techniques.

In 1928, Gag was invited to illustrate children's books, and this same year she wrote and illustrated "Millions of Cats."  Many more books followed, including "The Funny Thing (1928), "The ABC Bunny" (1932), and "Nothing at All" (1941).

In 1930 with her long time companion Earl Humphreys whom she would later marry, she purchased a large farm near Milford, New Jersey which she called "All Creation."  She continued to exhibit her work at the Weyhe Gallery.

Wanda Gag's autobiography called "Growing Pains" was published in 1940.  In January of 1945, Gag was diagnosed with lung cancer.  She continued with her work, but died on June 27, 1946 afer a few days of acute illness.

Gag once wrote in her diary, "What is good for my work is good, anything that hampers it is bad."  This singular focus is why her work excelled and why her standing in art's history as an innovative, outstanding artist will endure.