Frances Tipton Hunter

“One of the most prominent female illustrators of the 20th century”

Frances Tipton Hunter was born on September 1, 1896, in Howard, Pennsylvania. She took to art almost immediately. “Drawing is a perfectly natural thing,” Hunter said, “for the first impulse is to express one’s self, and the easiest way for a child to do this is by pictures.”

After the unexpected passing of her mother, a six year-old Hunter moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to live with her aunt and uncle. It’s unclear why she and her brother didn’t continue to live with their father—an insurance salesman named Michael Howard.

After graduating from Williamsport High School in 1914, Hunter moved to Philadelphia to study illustration. She graduated, with honors, from the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Fleisher Art Memorial.

Hunter’s first illustration job involved creating children’s fashion illustrations. The kind you would find at department stores. Her client, John Wanamaker, paid her $500 (roughly $7000 today).