Esphyr Slobodkina 1908–2002
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 8/12/2002
Esphyr Slobodkina, abstract artist and children's book author and illustrator, died on July 21, at the age of 93.
Best known for the classic Caps for Sale, first published in 1940, Slobodkina emigrated to the U.S. from Siberia in 1928 and was a founding member of the arts group Abstract American Artists, which included such contemporaries as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and David Smith.
In addition to creating paintings, textiles and sculptures, Slobodkina wrote and illustrated a number of children's books, including The Wonderful Feast, The Clock and Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant (recently reissued as Circus Caps for Sale). She got her start in publishing after being introduced to Margaret Wise Brown at the Bank Street Writers Laboratory; she went on to illustrate three of Brown's books.
