Though she had always drawn, it didn’t occur to her to go to art school - a matter sometimes of regret, sometimes of pride - but apparently she never considered being anything but a children’s book illustrator. In due course she went to boarding school, then to Smith College.

Summers Cooney spent with her paternal grandmother on the Maine coast, the start of another lifelong allegiance. Mother was an amateur painter from a prominent German-American family of art and music patrons she was proudest, however, of the forebear who painted oils-by-the-yard and cigar store Indians. Father was a stockbroker with New England roots. To succeed in a changing market, to satisfy her own ambitions, Cooney had to transform herself into a different kind of artist - a colorist and painter.įor Cooney, it was the work of a lifetime that began auspiciously in Brooklyn in 1917. But that particular accolade carried an implication, justified or not, of limitation.

A two-time Caldecott Medal winner, Cooney is known for beautifully illustrated books such as her adaptation of Chaucer's The Nun Preist's Tale (Caldecott Winner, 1959), and Miss Rumphius, winner of both the American Book Award and a New York Times citation in 1982.Barbara Cooney came late to center stage, after decades as an illustrator admired for her graphic arts skills. Like Miss Rumphius, the late Barbara Cooney traveled the world, lived in a house by the sea in Maine, and, through her art, made the world more beautiful. The art for Miss Rumphius has a permanent home in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. The illustrations have been reoriginated, going back to the original art to ensure state-of-the-art reproduction of Cooney's exquisite artwork. Miss Rumphius received the American Book Award in the year of publication. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. This beloved classic and celebration of nature-written by a beloved Caldecott winner-is lovelier than everīarbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. Alice made a promise to make the world a more beautiful place, then a seed of an idea is planted and blossoms into a beautiful plan.

Barbara cooney original art