The Red Rose Girls: An Uncommon Story of Art and Love.

• Position: Museums Today - A retrospective of illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935 - 1871-1954 - 1874-1961

"... In order to be viewed as serious professional artists, these women chose to forego the very domestic life they so romantically portrayed. "

TWENTY-THREE YEARS before American women won the right to vote in national elections, illustrators Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935), Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871-1954), and Violet Oakley (1874-1961) established a unique communal household based on professional cooperation and personal affection. The three artists met in 1897 when they were all studying with Howard Pyle, the nation's most celebrated illustrator. It was Pyle who noted a similarity in the work of Smith and Oakley and recommended that they collaborate on a professional assignment. To expedite the project, Smith moved into Oakley's studio in downtown Philadelphia. Green soon joined them.

The tale of the Red Rose Girls is set against the backdrop of late-Victorian-era mores and the emerging women's rights movement. The trio were professional artists at a time when it was more common for women to take art classes as a symbol of social accomplishment rather than as a serious endeavor. They studied at the renowned Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and met as students in Pyle's illustration class at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia.

Pyle provided specialized training in the practical and aesthetic aspects of illustration, encouraging his female students to take their careers seriously. This was unusual for the time, as they were prohibited from studying life drawing in most art schools and typically studied art in segregated classes. Only those who were extremely determined made their way in the male-dominated art world. Illustration, however, was considered an acceptable career for women because the creation of images for children's books and the newly burgeoning field of magazines were deemed an extension of women's "natural" talents for decorating and child rearing.

In 1901, Smith, Green, and Oakley established a home and studio in the picturesque Red Rose Inn on Philadelphia's venerable Main Line. There, they frequently posed for one another, offered sympathetic, constructive criticism, and enjoyed an easy exchange of ideas. Their delightful paintings and drawings celebrated the joys of domestic life in secure and happy images that fed the fantasies and aspirations of middle class society.

"These women were considered the most influential artists of American domestic life at the turn of the 20th century. Celebrated in their day...