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Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop
at the Brandywine River Museum
(January 2006, #009)

For Immediate Release

CHADDS FORD, PA—For over 40 years, Dorothy Lathrop expressed her love of fantasy and nature in pen and ink, watercolor, and lithographic pencil. Her illustrations, created mainly for children, demonstrate sophisticated design and unique craftsmanship that influenced other important illustrators of her generation.

Forgotten for over four decades, Lathrop is rediscovered as an important American illustrator in a new exhibition organized by the Brandywine River Museum. Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop, which opens March 25 and continues through May 21, includes over 120 original works, most of which have never been exhibited before.

Dorothy Lathrop was born in Albany, New York in 1891. Her mother, Ida Pulis Lathrop, was a noted painter who encouraged Dorothy's devotion to art and to the natural world. At Columbia University, Lathrop studied under Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) and with illustrators Henry McCarter at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and F. Luis Mora at the Art Students League in New York.

Lathrop's first illustrated children's book was The Three Mulla-Mulgars by celebrated English writer, Walter de la Mare. The publication's success and Lathrop's obvious gift for fantasy made her a star among publishers and gave her the opportunity to illustrate works by prominent children's authors. Two of George MacDonald's classics of the 19th century, The Light Princess and The Princess and Curdie, were special favorites from Lathrop's childhood, and in 1925 she used her considerable influence to persuade Macmillan Company to publish the books with her illustrations. The images demonstrate Lathrop's meticulous delicate line, liveliness and humor as well as an appreciation for the works of Howard Pyle, Arthur Rackham and others.

Among the most enduring and best-known of her illustrations are those for Rachel Field's Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (1929). Together Field and Lathrop purchased an antique doll, and devised Hitty's adventures in the hands of various owners. The book won the Newbery Medal and became an instant classic. It is still in print today.

The Fairy Circus (1931), the first book Lathrop authored and illustrated, features fairies who join woodland creatures in acrobatic performances. The work garnered high praise and was named a Newbery Honor Book.

In the late 1920s, Lathrop taught herself the craft of wood engraving. She found engraving a relaxing diversion from illustration deadlines. Dedicated to her new "hobby," Lathrop made prize-winning prints and helped organize The Print Club of Albany.

In 1935, changes in commercial printing prompted Lathrop to switch from pen and ink to lithographic pencil as a primary medium. In addition, she began to shift her focus from imaginary worlds to animal subjects. Who Goes There? (1935), Lathrop's first book reproducing drawings in lithographic pencil, shows concern for animals in their habitats. In 1938, Lathrop earned the first Caldecott Medal for her images in Animals of the Bible (1937).

Lathrop and her sister Gertrude, a sculptor, cared for a menagerie of domestic and wild creatures in their home and studio, both for companionship and as models for their art. For the remainder of her career, Lathrop wrote many books based on these and other animals. Her last work, The Dog in the Tapestry Garden, was published in 1962.

Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop, will be accompanied by an illustrated publication including three essays about Lathrop's life, art, and career. The exhibition will travel to the Albany Institute of History & Art in September 2006.

Located on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, the Brandywine River Museum is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Christmas Day. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 for seniors ages 65 and over, students with I.D., and children; and free for children under six and Brandywine Conservancy members. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit the museum's website at www.brandywinemuseum.org.


For digital photography of works appearing in the exhibition,
please call 610-388-8337 or email jmaguire@brandywine.org.


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Brandywine River Museum, U.S. Route 1 and PA Route 100
P.O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317