Spring in the Garden, c.1930 lithograph, Dr. Wolfgang Zeman Fund Purchase

Born in New Ulm, Minnesota, Wanda Gág was a child of German Bohemian immigrants.  She was inspired at an early age by her father who ran a photography studio and decorated houses and churches.  After her father's death, Gág supported her family by selling drawings and greeting cards.  She earned a scholarship to the St. Paul School of Art (now the Minnesota Museum of American Art) in 1913 and later studied at the New York Art Students League.  Gág's subjects generally draw from her childhood on the farm and have a folktale quality about them.  She worked with many different types of media, such as pen and ink, linoleum cuts, woodcuts, wood engravings, and even experimented with the use of sandpaper in her prints and lithographs.  Gág also illustrated many children’s books, and is best known for Millions of Cats, which she wrote and illustrated.