Illustrators: Mary Emma Mussleman (United States, 1880-??)
Figure 1.--While Emma Mussdleman was primarily a fahion illustrator, she produced this striking painting she called 'Sky Pilot' in 1918. Mussleman was better known for fashion illuistrations and paper dolls. We are not sure what promted this work. But we note several similar depictions in the aftermath of World War I and the early romance of flying. One competing illustration by Neysa McMein appeared on the cover of 'Saturday Evening Post' (August 11, 1917). It is almost as if there was a comptition at the time. We don't think any of them rivaled the vibrancy of the Mussleman depiction.
Mary Emma Musselman was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (1880). Her parents were Benjamin Franklin Musselman and Anna Jane (nee Herr) Musselman. She had a brother, Benjamin Ovid Musselman. She went by Emma rather than Mary. Mussleman lived for years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she began as a landscape artist, living with her mother but soon turned to fadhion illustrations (1900s). From an early point she began focusing on fashion. We note some of her work on children's fashions in the Women's Home Companion (1912). She became one of the top fashion illustrarors of the early-20th century. Musselman produced some of the most notable drawings as a fashion illustrator during the early years of the 20th century. She was responsible for some striking illustrations of Amrrican women. Mussleman became a popular illustrator of fashions, in print media, both in magazines and newsprint. Mussleman's drawings were rarely credited, but are visually easy to identifyy. She created some of the most detailed and beutiful fashion illustrations of the era. They were noy just basic drawings, but little pirces of art. Her illustrations were alsp used for paper doll cutout clothes which were very popular as a magazine feature. She continued as a contributor major magazines, especially women's magazines like Ladies Home Journal and Women's Home Companion. She moved to New York (1935). There she married a divorced man, Jack Watts Bagley in Manhattan (1936). We know of no children.
