Margaret Ely Webb
| Margaret Ely Webb | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1877 |
| Died |
1965 Santa Barbara, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Illustrator |
| Movement | Arts and Crafts |
Margaret Ely Webb (1877–1965) was an American illustrator, printmaker, and bookplate artist. She was part of the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s.
Early Life
Webb was born in 1877 to a New Jersey family with three sons. Her father died sometime before 1918, when Webb's mother married Charles Albert Storke, a prominent citizen of Santa Barbara, California and mayor from 1898-1901.[1]
Webb studied in New York at the Art Students' League and at Cooper Union. She lived in Boston and New Jersey, before settling in Santa Barbara in 1922. [2]
Illustration
Webb was an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s. She was known for her intricate, pen-and-ink bookplate designs. According to the Santa Barbara Independent, "one critic, writing in August 1908, confessed that the beauty of Webb’s plates had shattered his prejudice against women artists." Webb created bookplates for notable Santa Barbarans, including her step-brother, Thomas M. Storke.[1]
In the 1940s, Webb took up woodblock printing as a medium for bookplates. She also painted watercolors and oils. Webb is primarily remembered for her work as an illustrator of children's literature; her illustrations also appeared in many magazines.[1]
Memberships and Awards
- Member of the American Artists Professional League.[2]
- In 1954, Webb's bookplate art was honored by the Dutch Bookplate Society.[1]
Personal Life
Webb was also a talented musician and a horticulturalist. The gardens at her home in Santa Barbara were admired throughout the South Coast.[1]
Death and Legacy
In 1950, Webb sold her longtime home on West Micheltorena Street and moved to Mountain Drive, where she converted the garage into her studio. She died in 1965.[1] A collection of her watercolors of wildflowers was given to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and her illustrations would eventually become part of the collections of the Library of Congress and the British Museum.[1]
Bookplates
Some of Margaret Ely Webb's bookplates are held in the William Augustus Brewer Bookplate Collection at the University of Delaware.
- Bookplates by Margaret Ely Webb
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Bookplate for the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
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Bookplate for relative William Mackenzie Webb
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Bookplate for Trinity Church, Santa Barbara
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Bookplare for relative Carl Ely Webb
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Bookplate for Anne Lotterhos
References
External links
Media related to Margaret Ely Webb at Wikimedia Commons- Works by Margaret Ely Webb at Project Gutenberg
- Online Books by Margaret Ely Webb at UPenn
- Bookplates by Margaret Ely Webb in the University of Delaware Library's William Augustus Brewer Bookplate Collection
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