May 23, 2024 - Sale 2670

Sale 2670 - Lot 109

Price Realized: $ 812
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
Latham, Barbara (1896-1989)
Bird Houses.

Lithograph, hand signed and titled by Latham in pencil on lower blank margin (crease to lower righthand corner); 16 ¾ x 14 in.

A painter, printer, and notable children's book illustrator, Latham trained in various New England institutions before beginning her career in 1919 for New York City's Norcross Publishing. She is known for her prints and illustrations depicting New Mexico, where she moved in 1925 to find inspiration for a series of greeting cards she was meant to design. There, she not only produced some of her most stunning and successful works (such as Approaching Storm, ca. 1930), but also met her future husband, artist Howard Cook, who was working on illustrations for Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop at the time of their meeting. Latham's pieces often depict pastoral scenes of day-to-day rural life, defined by soft, though sturdy shapes and vibrant coloring.