Helen Hyde "Girl w/ Bough of Toys"Helen Hyde (1868-1919) American, NY. "Girl with Bough of Toys". Original Woodblock print signed in pencil LL Helen Hyde, and signed in plate along with 1907 date and HH monogram . Image size measures 6" x 61/2". Not inspected out of the frame. In good condition. Please check our other listings on ebay this week for over 280 fresh-to-the-market paintings, sculpture, prints and posters by listed American and European artists.

The following biography is from AskArt: Helen Hyde was an etcher, illustrator and painter born in Lima, New York, April 6, 1868. She was a pupil of Emil Carlsen in New York, Raphael Collin in Paris, Skarbina in Berlin and Kano Tomanobo in Japan. It was enthusiasm for her teacher, Felix Regamey, director of the Musee Guimet in Paris, that first inspired her interest in Japanese art. When her pictures were refused at the salon, she returned home determined to give up her chosen profession. Taking up home in San Francisco upon her return to America, the Chinese characteristics of that city interested her and her sketches made in Chinatown became popular. Intent on going to Japan for a few months, she stayed fifteen years, her experience there brought to this country an interest in Japanese works. After a years study with the last of the famous school of the Kano artists, and acquiring the Japanese method of wielding the brush, she was rewarded when her master asked her to paint a kakemono for the annual exhibition. In competition with Japanese artists, her picture, A Monarch of Japan, won the first prize. Later Miss Hyde took up wood engraving and printing, and her color prints in the world of art became famous. One of her most successful etchings is Little Cherry Blossom. She was also known for genre, landscapes and interiors. Hyde later painted in Mexico, and she also wrote the Color Lure of Mexico. The Japanese influence is evident in these works. While she may have imitated the Japanese in her approach to painting, "Her children are real children, sound in body and healthy in disposition. And above all they are children who do something." She used pastel colors in her works very effectively, she was especially fond of soft pinks, greens, lavenders and yellows. It was said the "color of her prints are their greatest charm. One scholar stated that "as an interpreter of children she has done for Japan what Boutet de Movel did for France. She was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers and the California Society of Etchers. The American Magazine of Art closes its tribute to this artist as follows: "There is a charm about her rendition of children , whether they be Japanese, Chinese, Mexican or American, which gives token to her sympathy with childhood; and with her passing has gone from the world of life of cheerfulness and courage and high purpose which, like a flower of sweet fragrance, has added beauty to life." She passed away in Pasadena, California on May 16th 1919.