Maginel Wright Enright facts for kids
Maginel Wright Enright Barney (born June 19, 1881 – died April 18, 1966) was a talented American artist. She was famous for illustrating children's books. She also created many other types of art. Maginel was the younger sister of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. She was also the mother of Elizabeth Enright, who became a well-known children's book writer and illustrator herself.
Her Early Life
Maginel was born Margaret Ellen Wright in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She was the third child of William and Anna Wright. Her mother later gave her the special name "Maginel." It was a shorter way of saying "Maggie Nell."
When Maginel was two years old, her family moved to Madison, Wisconsin. Ten years later, they moved again to Chicago. This move was so they could be closer to her brother Frank's architecture work. In Chicago, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Her first job as a commercial artist was with the Barnes, Crosby Co. in Chicago. She mainly drew pictures for catalogs there. She met Walter J. "Pat" Enright, another young artist, at this job. They later got married.
Maginel and Walter had a daughter named Elizabeth. She was born on September 17, 1907, in Oak Park, Illinois. The Enrights later moved to New York City to work on their careers. They had a busy social life there. After their divorce, Maginel married Hiram Barney, who was a lawyer. He passed away in 1925.
Maginel Wright Enright Barney wrote a book about her life. It was called The Valley of the God-Almighty Joneses. It was published in 1965. She passed away one year later, in 1966, in East Hampton (town), New York.
Illustrating Children's Books
Maginel Wright Enright was the name she used for her professional art career. She illustrated 63 children's books during her life. Sometimes she worked alone. Other times, she worked with different artists.
Her first job illustrating books was for The Twinkle Tales. This was a set of six small books for young children. They were published in 1906 by Reilly & Britton. The famous author L. Frank Baum wrote them. He used the pen name "Laura Bancroft." These books were very popular. They sold 40,000 copies in their first year!
Maginel also illustrated other books by L. Frank Baum. These included Policeman Bluejay (1907) and L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker (1910). For the second book, she worked with John R. Neill. Her husband, Walter Enright, also illustrated one of Baum's books. He worked on Father Goose's Year Book in 1907.
She also illustrated classic books like Johanna Spyri's Heidi (1921). She worked on Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates (1918) with Edna Cooke. People praised her as one of "the very best artists" for children's books.
Maginel also wrote and illustrated her own books. She created The Baby's Record Through the First Year in Song and Story (1928). She also put together and illustrated Weather Signs and Rhymes (1931). She drew pictures for school textbooks too. These were mostly readers for younger children. Her daughter, Elizabeth Enright, said that Maginel changed how textbooks looked. She made them lively, graceful, and imaginative. This made them much more appealing to young readers.
Other Creative Work
Besides illustrating books, Maginel Wright Enright also drew for magazines. She created pictures and cover art. She mostly worked for women's magazines like McClure's and the Ladies' Home Journal.
She also designed Christmas cards. She did many other kinds of artwork too. Cornelia Brierley wrote in her memoir Tales of Taliesin that Maginel was "full of fun." She would spend summers with her daughter Elizabeth at her brother Frank's home, Taliesin. There, Maginel designed and made "yarn paintings." She later sold these unique artworks in New York. In the 1940s, she even became known as a shoe designer. She created fancy shoes with jewels and sequins. These shoes were made by the company Capezio.
