View from the Headlands: Harrison Cady, a special exhibition of works by artist and illustrator Harrison Cady (1877-1970), will be on view July 7 through October 28 at the Cape Ann Museum. An opening reception is scheduled for Saturday, July 7, free for museum members or $10 for nonmembers (includes museum admission).
View from the Headlands will draw on public and private collections throughout the region with examples of Cady’s early magazine illustrations, his work with writer Thornton W. Burgess, and his later landscape paintings. The exhibition reflects the Cape Ann Museum’s commitment to preserving and presenting work that celebrates the area’s culture and history.
A native of Gardner, Massachusetts, Cady is best known for his collaboration with Thornton W. Burgess, author of numerous children’s bedtime stories. In 1910, their first book, Old Mother West Wind, introduced Americans to British author Beatrix Potter’s beloved character Peter Rabbit. In addition to Peter Rabbit, Cady illustrated other animated animal characters, including Chippy Chipmunk, Jerry Muskrat, and Reddy Fox, among others. Cady’s work with Burgess continued for the next 50 years.
Cady began his 70-year career as an illustrator with the Brooklyn Eagle, and later worked for numerous popular American publications, including Life magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, the Saturday Evening Post, and Good Housekeeping. Cady illustrated and wrote a syndicated comic strip, “Peter Rabbit,” in the New York Herald Tribune for 28 years.
Cady was a frequent visitor to Rockport, Massachusetts and in 1920 he made it his permanent summer home, purchasing a seafront property known as “The Headlands.” With his studio, “the Silo,” located nearby, Cady shifted his focus to painting landscapes and harbor scenes. Cady was an early member of the Rockport Art Association, founded in 1921.
For more information about the exhibition and related programming, please visit the museum’s website capeannmuseum.org.