Peggy Bacon (1895-1987)
“A Few Ideas,” 1927
Printers ink on paper (drypoint etching)
#1975.8, Gift of Alexander Brook, 1975
By Ruth Greene-McNally
Bacon studied at the Art Students League between 1914-1920, where she was influenced by the realistic prints of her teachers, John Sloan and George Bellows. She achieved early success as a printmaker, illustrator, and author of over sixty children’s books. She later turned her attention to fine art, painting in watercolor, pastel, and oil. Her 1934 book of caricatures, “Off with Their Heads,” established her as a leading satirist.
Bacon and husband Alexander Brook first came to Ogunquit in 1938. Her caricatures reveal wry observations of the everyday lives of urbanites and artists of the Ogunquit art colony. About this close-knit group, Bacon commented, “The oblivion of the art student in those days to current events or the outside world was abysmal viewed from one standpoint. But it was very nourishing to the individual artist.
