TitleJack-in-the-Pulpits
Artist
Nora Spicer Unwin
(1907-1982)
Date1955
MediumWood engraving on cream wove paper
DimensionsSheet size: 9 11/16 × 6 3/4 in.
Image size: 7 11/16 × 5 11/16 in.
Mat size: 20 × 16 in.
SignedSigned in graphite at LR: "Nora S. Unwin 1955".
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, March 7, 1977
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1982.834
Label TextNora Spicer was born in England and settled permanently in the United States in 1946. Her family had for several generations been involved in printing and publishing, and she was exposed to the process of bookmaking from an early age. She later became a prolific book illustrator, illustrating such classics as J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1949). She was also and author and a poet. She is best known for her wood engraving, which was her favorite working medium. Jack-in the Pulpits, 1955 is one of thirteen wood engravings that Unwin submitted as her diploma presentation. It is a relatively early work, done after she settled in the United States in 1946. Jack-in-the-Pulpit is a poisonous spring-flowering woodland herb native to the Eastern United States. It has the ability to change its sex, and does so many times over its lifespan. "Jack" is the spadix, or floral spike, and the "pulpit" is the hooded leaf-like structure that encloses it.