Maria Louise Kirk

Maria Louise Kirk, illustrator (1860-1938)

The stars of this post are illustrations of relatively unknown illustrator Maria Louise Kirk, often signed as Maria L. Kirk, who was born in Lancaster, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 21 1860. She illustrated dozens of books, among which we can find many important ones, and I would like to present as many as possible.

Don’t expect to learn a lot about Maria Louise Kirk who died on her birthday 1938. She was schooled at School of Design for Women and Academy of Fine Arts (both Philadelphia), she exhibited in Philadelphia, where she got an award in 1894  and in Chicago, and she will be remembered by her illustrations for children’s books.

I would like to start with George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind and the so called simplified edition, rewritten by Elizabeth Lewis (1892-1958)  from 1904:

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Although technically well executed with cute characters and great sense for contrasts, these illustrations doesn’t exhibit so much life as illustrations by her more famous contemporary Jessie Wilcox Smith (who illustrated the very same book in ‘unabridged’ version). However the simplified edition of At the Back of the North Wind was also republished in 1909 and Maria Louise Kirk made six additional illustrations. I unfortunately managed to find only black and white copies, so I am presenting both as they are, the already seen plus the new six plus the cover with at least some colors.

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It’s interesting to see her work on another fantasy book by George Macdonald. These illustrations are from The Princess and Curdie, simultaneously published by J. B. Lippincott Company in Phildelhia and London in 1914.

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Next series of illustrations is from Heidi. It’s a gift edition with many color illustrations from 1915.

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There are exactly 14 illustrations by Maria Louise Kirk and it looks her style is very appropriate for idyllic situations in Alps. Pictures of Heidi and her friends are among her signature works.

heidi-waivingheidi-undid-dressesheidi-and-grandfatherheidi-and-friendheidi-and-grandfather-enjoying-on-snowheidi-and-auntheidi-runningheidi-cryingheidi-in-grandfathers-armsheidi-and-grandfather-hand-in-handheidi-waiting-for-the-doctortwo-kids-on-sledgekid-watchingpeter-making-somersaults

This was not the only cooperation between Johanna Spyri and Maria L. Kirk. In 1921 she illustrated Spyri’s Mazli (it’s actually a with umlaut: Maezli) which is subtitled A Story of the Swiss Valleys and i suppose we already know what this book is about:

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In 1914 The story of the Canterbury pilgrims, Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton’s adaptation of Chaucer’s famous Canterbur’y Tales was published. This is of course another edition of classic book aiming at younger audience. Maria L. Kirk made next four color illustrations.

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Talking about younger audience, we can’t go without today almost forgotten, but in her times one of the bestselling authors. I am talking about Mary Louisa Molesworth (1839-1921). Some of the finest illustrators of the time illustrated her work and Marie Louise Kirk was no exception. Here we go with the famous The Cuckoo Clock, first published in 1877, but from 1914 edition:

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This old fairy tale about a girl living with two old aunts in a house with a magic cuckoo clock is not exactly what today’s children expect from the books, but it still posses a special charm and great insight about life in 19th century. What i find particularly interesting, are color pictures which are not very often at Miss Molesworth’s books. If you would like to know more about her books illustrated by other authors, here is a link to Mary Molesworth.

Another beautiful set comes from Pinocchio, sometimes subtitled as The Story of a Puppet. This is De Luxe edition by J. B. Lippincott company with fourteen illustrations in full color (regular edition has only eight color plates) and decorations on all pages with text. There are four different decorations and of course a special end-paper:

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Nice, huh? What about the illustrations?

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Another classic who got in hands of Maria Louise Kirk is Hans Christian Andersen. Next set of pictures comes from Hans Andersen’s Fairy tales, published by J. B. Lippincott company in 1911:

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A scene from The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep.

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It’s hard to miss Little Mermaid.

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The Elfin Mount is one of less known fairy tales by Andersen.

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A Good Leap is another of almost forgotten tales by this famous author.

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Who remembers A Tale in the Teapot?

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The Shadow is not the only one of darker Andersen’s tales. But this one has a special place because it inspired another great writer (Oscar Wilde) to write one of fair ytales a s well.

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A title Little Totty hardly rings a bell, but if you look at the picture and hear another suggestion, you’ll probably immediately recognize still one of the most popular fairy tales – Thumbelina.

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Little Ida’s Flowers is one of many Andersen’s fairy tale,s where he used real people to create characters for his stories. With this we conclude our journey through the world of Maria Louise Kirk’s illustrations.

I’ll stop for now, but there is more. Soon! O.K.?

10 thoughts on “Maria Louise Kirk”

  1. Maria L. Kirk is one of my favorite illustrators. I especially love the covers she did for some of the L. M. Montgomery books.

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  2. A few days ago my friend’s mother showed me the “Pinocchio” (1914) illustrated by Maria L. Kirk.
    I absolutely fell in love with her work. But when I saw her Gepetto, I almost lost it – I recognised… my uncle!!! 100% him! ….But how? He was born only in 1921 in Ukraine!
    I sent this pictire to his children and his sister and all of them said the same: it’s him!

    Dear topillustrations ))) Thank you so much for this article. Looking forward to hear more about Maria L. Kirk. And…do you think it’s possible to find out more about her “Pinocchio” work?

    Here is our dear Gepetto: https://www.google.ru/search?q=pinokkio+1914&newwindow=1&biw=1280&bih=907&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DkQtVfT4OPWLsQT5gIFI&ved=0CDIQsAQ#imgrc=BqtM1OtzL22PYM%253A%3BSm1tLzzZGWMD-M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feduscapes.com%252Fbookhistory%252Fknowledge%252Fpin.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feduscapes.com%252Fbookhistory%252Fknowledge%252F2.htm%3B341%3B250 …..

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    • Sorry for my late response, I had to neglect work on this blog for month, because life happened (and it looks it will happen again). About your question – new sources of and about vintage books are popping up all the time, so I can only hope we’ll have an opportunity to grab some additional info about Maria Louise Kirk. In my opinion her work is too important to be forgotten.

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  3. Do you have a copy of M.L. Kirk’s secret garden illustrations? I’m looking for a copy of the traditional picture of Mary opening the gate of the garden!

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  4. she ever do large landscapes painting? I have a photo if anyone wants to see. please. 🙂 trying to locate this pieces origin.

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  5. Hi: I am enjoying your posts and the appreciation of Maria’s work. Maria L Kirk is my great great aunt. My mother, who is still alive, remembers her as Auntie. Auntie was her grandmother’s sister. Maria lived with my mother’s family the last years of her life. I have several of Maria’s sketch books, a book she wrote and her diary. I also have the portrait that won her the prize in 1894. It is a portrait of her sister, my great grandmother. I grew up with many of the books she illustrated and loved the pictures. I would like to have Maria more known and recognized. She supported herself at a time when that was not easy for women to do. Her mother died of childbed fever during the Civil War. Her mother had begged her husband not to fight because she feared dying and leaving her children orphans if she died. Maria’s father remarried and Maria had 4 siblings. I would need to confirm my memory, but I think she was the oldest with one sister and 3 half brothers. I think she lived alone much of her adult life. Apparently she had an infection in her leg as a child and, according to my mother, the infection got into her leg bone and stunted the growth of that leg, which ended up being shorter than the other. Maria walked with a limp.

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    • Hi, Elizabeth. Maria’s work is underappreciated in my opinion and it’s my humble intention to present her illustrations (together with many other skillful artists) to the world. Especially this world, where money and social status quickly become only values. We need to step back and find some time for enjoying in nature, art, tiny details and sincere smiles, not just counting likes and shares on portable screens. This blog is, I believe, a small step in the right direction.
      I’m glad you found this post and very grateful for sharing tidbits from ‘Auntie’s’ life. Thank you very much!

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