Helena Modjeska Chase
| Helena Modjeska Chase Johnson Drea | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Helena Modjeska Chase September 23, 1900 Omaha, NB, U.S. |
| Died |
December 22, 1986 Santa Fe, NM, U.S. |
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| Children | Mansi McClure Johnson (1924-2013) Harry McClure Johnson (1925-2007) Elizabeth McIlvaine Johnson (b. 1926) Sarah Jane McClure Johnson (1929-2013) Priscilla McClure Johnson (b. 1931) |
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Helena Modjeska Chase Johnson Drea (née Chase, September 23, 1900 - December 22, 1986) was an American artist, author, musician and a photographer. She was best known illustrator of children's books and oil paintings.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Helena was the youngest of four children. Her father, Clement Chase, who owned a newspaper and a bookstore, was a women's rights advocate and encouraged Helena's energetic nature and belief that she could do what she wished with her life. Her mother, Lula Belle Edwards, tried unsuccessfully to mold Hinton into a more traditional woman's role. Both her parents were ahead of their time by giving her a wide and liberal education. Helena Chase J. Drea (as she was later known) remembers a delightful home life, with opportunities of meeting guests from everywhere, especially artists, writers, actors and dancers. Her grandfather Col. Champion Spaulding Chase had been mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and her parents entertained a great deal. Her grandfather Champion Chase brought the first Wagnerian Operas to Omaha.
In addition to taking art lessons and dancing lessons (at the same Chamber's Academy Ballroom where Fred Astaire and his sister Adele were training), she took piano lessons from Miss Effie Ellis and her 'Method'. After kindergarten and public school, she attended Brownell Hall, an Episcopal Church School for young ladies, whose aim was to make them 'as the polished pillars of the temples of the church.
She started the "Adventure Trails Publications" in 1945 at her ranch in Steamboat Springs. Her daughter, Elizabeth (then 19) wrote "The Vengeance of the Vixen" in 1945. Her daughter Priscilla (then 15) wrote and published "How the Eggplant Came to Be" Her daughter Elizabeth's book "The Travels of Chiquita" was printed in 1947. She was known to have published books under the Pseudonym name of Charity Chase such as her book "Peanuts' (And cowboy Jimminy)"
The family was fortunate in that her father owned several banking papers and a 'Weekly Society' paper; the advertisers therein often paid in the form of free lessons, clothing, groceries, hats, dentistry, and other necessities. At the age of 11 Mrs Chase studied at the Chicago Art Institute, followed by the Chicago Girls' Latin School; Mary C. Wheeler School, Providence, Rode Island; Woodstock, New York, Art Students' League; Colorado Springs Art Centre; Parsons Art School, and other establishments.
She went to Omaha Public Schools, Brownell Hall, Chicago Girls Latin School, Art institute of Chicago (Juvenile Dept.), Mary C. Wheeler School in Providence R.I., Chicago Art Institute, and the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts were she graduated the year 1923. She married just after the graduation.
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