National Women's Month: Women Painters

In celebration of women painters in honor of “National Women’s Month,” here’s a personal favorite and perhaps little known artist: Dorothy Waugh. 

Dorothy Waugh (1896-1996) was “the greatest 20th-century American graphic designer no one knows about,” according to architecture and design historian Christopher Long. 

Long before she led the children’s book division at Alfred A. Knopf, she was defining the aesthetic of American travel.

From 1934 to 1936, Waugh created 17 iconic U.S. National Park posters that blended Art Deco typography with bold, innovative color schemes. It was the first time that such a commission was given to a single designer, let alone a woman, in the US. At a time when female illustrators were often restricted, she was granted rare creative independence and she used it to shape an era.