Wanda Gag

Wanda Hazel Gag was an artist, author, and illustrator who is best known for the classic children's book, Millions of Cats. She was born in Minnesota in 1893, the oldest of seven children.

After her father died in 1908, she began keeping a journal until her mother died in 1917. It was a journal that was later published as her autobiography. Although she went into teaching right after high school to help support her family, she was also able to win a scholarship to go to St. Paul Art School and later the Minneapolis School of Art.

She then pursued a career in commercial art in New York, where she also began writing and illustrating children's stories. As soon as she had enough money to quit her job as a commercial artist, she began producing woodcuts, paintings, etchings, and lithographs.

She married in 1930, contracted lung cancer in 1945, and died in 1946. Her original family home has become a historical site that is open for tours.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

-- B. Redman