Wanda Gág

Wanda Hazel Gág
Gág in December 1916
Born	March 11, 1893 New Ulm, Minnesota, USA
Died	June 27, 1946(1946-06-27) (aged 53) New York City, New York
Occupation	Artist, writer, translator
Nationality	American
Genre	Children's literature
Notable works	Millions of Cats
Notable awards	Newbery Honor, Caldecott Honor

Wanda Hazel Gág /ˈɡɑːɡ/ (1893–1946) was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is most noted for writing and illustrating the children’s book Millions of Cats, the oldest American picture book still in print. Her books Millions of Cats and The ABC Bunny were recipients of the Newbery Honor Award and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Nothing at All received the Caldecott Honor Award. Gág was also a noted print-maker, receiving international recognition as well as numerous awards for her prints in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1940 Growing Pains, a book of edited excerpts from her diaries (covering the years 1908 to 1917), was published and received wide acclaim.

Born March 11, 1893, in New Ulm, Minnesota, to Elisabeth Biebl Gag and the artist and photographer Anton Gag, the eldest of seven children. When still a teen, Gág’s illustrated story "Robby Bobby in Mother Goose Land" was published in The Minneapolis Journal in their Junior Journal supplement. When Gág was fifteen her father died of tuberculosis; his final words to her were: “Was der Papa nicht thun konnt’, muss die Wanda halt fertig machen.” (What Papa couldn’t do, Wanda will have to finish.) Following her father's death, the Gag family was on welfare and some townspeople thought that Wanda should get a steady job to help support her family. She chose to remain in school, however, graduating in June 1912. Wanda then taught country school in Springfield, Minnesota, from November 1912 to June 1913.

In 1913 Gág began a platonic relationship with University of Minnesota medical student Edgar T. Herrmann who exposed her to new ideas in art, politics and philosophy. From 1913 to 1914, with the aid of friends (and a scholarship), she attended The Saint Paul School of Art. From 1914 to 1917 she attended The Minneapolis School of Art under the patronage of Herschel V. Jones. While there, she became friends with Harry Gottlieb and Adolf Dehn. In 1917 she completed her first illustrated book commission, A Child’s Book of Folk-Lore— Mechanics of Written English by Jean Sherwood Rankin. Gág won a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York and, after her graduation, she moved to New York City where she took classes in composition, etching and advertising illustration.