![]() That calendar illustration, The Song of the Bluebird, proved to be Gerlach Barklow’s most successful and popular image ever produced. Kenyon would create a calendar image along those same lines–an image of a little girl gazing at a bluebird in the springtime. Barklow attended a stage performance of Maeterlink’s, The Bluebird, the idea was born that Ms. The concept of a Bluebird calendar series came after the company founder, Theodore Gerlach, returned from a European trip with a print of The Spring Song, that depicted a young girl seated on a park bench and gazing at a bluebird. They were given a Raggedy Ann doll, and their parents were paid $5.00 for allowing their child to pose for an upcoming calendar. Many of the models used were local children. Kenyon’s friend Adelaide Hiebel created several other Bluebird calendar images for Gerlach Barklow into the 1950’s. ![]() Kenyon created many images for the Bluebird calendar series between 1926-1932, and again in 1939. Depicting a young girl gazing at a bluebird, it has become the most widely recognized image of Gerlach Barklow’s long running series. The Song of the Bluebird was Zula Kenyon’s first commission created for the Bluebird series in the 1926 calendar line. The large pastel, The Song of the Bluebird was produced by Zula Kenyon for use as a calendar published by the Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company. Kenyon’s early work for Gerlach Barklow was signed with only her last name because the company believed that customers would be reluctant to purchase images created by women. The Song of the Bluebird, copyrighted in 1924Ĭalendar illustration for 1926 Gerlach Barklow calendar line One of these, Zula Kenyon, studied art in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago along with her friend and colleague Adelaide Hiebel, also a Gerlach Barklow Company illustrator. Many of the company’s illustration artists were women, some even residents of the local area. The Gerlach Barklow Company produced art calendars and advertising materials in Joliet, Illinois from 1907 through the late 1950s.* Their popular calendars were typically personalized for the businesses who purchased them to distribute to their customers as gifts. ![]()
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