Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina

“Caps for sale” is a classic children’s book about a peddler’s run-in with some mischievous monkeys.

But the story behind the story is even better.

Esphyr Slobodkina at work.

The author/illustrator, Esphyr Slobodkina was a feminist and avant-garde artist. She was a founder of American Abstract Artists, and her work was featured in Peggy Guggenheim’s Exhibition of 31 Women and she made art until her death in 2002 at the age of 93.

She got started illustrating books in 1938 after meeting Margaret Wise Brown (the author of “Good Night Moon” among many others) as a way to support herself while making art.

As Anne Cohen DePietro wrote (on esphyrslobodkina.com) "Traversing nearly a century of inspiration, it is Slobodkina’s enduring delight in the creative act and her single-minded pursuit of her aesthetic vision in a multiplicity of media that continues to enchant."