Mary Petty's Final Cover Revisited

March 19, 1966 Petty final cover

This post was first published in 2012. I decided to run it again because autumn always reminds me of Mary Petty, one of my favorite artists, though I am not entirely sure why.
As always each picture can be enlarged by clicking on it.

The last cover self taught artist Mary Petty drew for The New Yorker Magazine showed the Dowager Mrs. Peabody reaching for the bell pull to call her maid Fay. Sadly the  ribbon  pull cord, breaks from age as does the string of pearls that always hung around Mrs. Peabody's neck.

The cover series, which appeared from 1927 until the last one on March 19,1966, were about the fictional Peabody family and their wispy maid Fay ("half sylph and half butterfly") .  

For 40 years readers followed the family as one by one they disappeared from the story and only Mrs. Peabody was left.  I find the last cover hauntingly sad. How hard for the elderly to be left alone in a world where all their contemporaries are gone on ahead of them.

Mrs. Peabody by Mary Petty

In learning more about Mary Petty, I discovered this sad information at American National Biography Online about her own ending.

"Petty's career was tragically cut short when on 1 December 1971 she was assaulted and badly beaten by a mugger. She was found on Ward's Island three days afterward, bruised and incoherent, and never wholly recovered. She died five years later at the Pine Rest Nursing Home in Paramus, New Jersey."

Fay," half  sylph, half butterfly". by Mary Petty

Reports say she had been beaten to the point that she was left with the mind of a 3 year old child.
So sad an ending but she left a bit of herself for us to enjoy and her legacy lives on in new admirers of her work. I hope you will include yourself among her admirers now.

She  illustrated a few books which included Goodbye Mr. Chippendale and This Petty Pace, a collection of her work from the New Yorker
I  highly recommend both .

New Yorker Cover Nov. 11, 1950

Mary Petty's work may be found on Art.com , AllPosters.com and on the New Yorker site as well. If you like her drawings,they are available full size .

Mary Petty was born in Hampton, New Jersey to Robert Davison Petty, a law professor at the New York Law School, and Florence Servis, a schoolteacher. In 1922, Petty graduated from the Horace Mann School in New York City. She did not formally study art, but taught herself to draw.(wikipedia)

Another Look at Mary Petty's Art

Rainy days make me think of  The New Yorker Magazine  covers but I am not sure why or where that originated.
I have written about Mary Petty and her The New Yorker covers before.   And I've written about her final cover here as well.    A sad story to be sure.
But I prefer to celebrate her art because I admire it so very much and I am a great fan of the cover art on the New Yorker magazine in  general.
I would like to buy a few prints at Art.com and frame them. Its so good to have art around you, especially art you love. For me it is art that tells a story.
As a matter of fact I enjoy The New Yorker covers so much that my daughter bought me the complete set on DVD's that comes with a large coffee table sized book all about them. It's wonderful!
Mary's characters came to life on the cover of the New Yorker magazine with a series about the rich Mrs. Peabody and her life from young adulthood until her final days and the story of her adorable maid Fay, "half sylph and half butterfly" .
The first drawing is one of my favorites showing her conservatory on the brownstone in winter. It's a cozy look I think being inside tending your plants and watching the city go by.
Here are a few of the pictures this remarkable artist drew.

Happy New  Year

Phesant season

hailing a cab

This must be the Peabody's summer estate

 Fay downstairs polishing the silver

All sorts move n next door sometimes

Nobody..NOBODY..gives Mrs. P a ticket!

Ummm, warming the buns

not an easy job!

And then there are her humorous drawings:

Mary Petty's Final Cover...

March 19, 1966 Petty final cover

The last cover self taught artist Mary Petty drew for The New Yorker Magazine showed the Dowager Mrs. Peabody reaching for the bell pull to call her maid Fay. Sadly the old ribbon cord breaks from age as does the string of pearls that always hung around her neck.

The cover series, which appeared from 1927 until the last one on March 19,1966, were about the fictional Peabody family and their wispy maid Fay ("half sylph and half butterfly") .  

For 40 years readers followed the family as one by one they disappeared from the story and only Mrs. Peabody was left.  I find the last cover haunting and sad. How hard for the elderly to be left alone in a world where all their contemporaries are gone on ahead of them.

Mrs. Peabody by Mary Petty

In learning more about Mary Petty, I discovered this sad quote at American National Biography Online about her own ending.

"Petty's career was tragically cut short when on 1 December 1971 she was assaulted and badly beaten by a mugger. She was found on Ward's Island three days afterward, bruised and incoherent, and never wholly recovered. She died five years later at the Pine Rest Nursing Home in Paramus, New Jersey."

Fay," half  sylph, half butterfly". by Mary Petty

Reports say she had been beaten to the point that she was left with the mind of a 3 year old child.
So sad an ending but she left a bit of herself for us to enjoy and her legacy lives on in new admirers of her work.

She  illustrated a few books which included Goodbye Mr. Chippendale and This Petty Pace, a collection of her work from the New Yorker
I  highly recommend both .