Smalley, Florence Pretz (1885-1969)
Dates
- Existence: 1885-08-12 - 1969-12-31
Biography
Florence Pretz Smalley (1885–1969) was an illustrator and teacher from Kansas City, Missouri known for her creation of the Billiken, a figure of good luck that became popular in the early 20th century and later became Saint Louis University's mascot. Smalley worked with a variety of art mediums, including watercolor, pencil, ink, and clay and created illustrations for short stories, books, magazines, and invitation cards.
Florence Pretz graduated in the class of 1903 from Manual Training High School, where she was inspired by Japanese art and culture through Floy Campbell, an illustrator and teacher at the school. She began formulating the concept of the Billiken, "the original official luck bringer of us all" and initially depicted it as an elvish or fairy creature. In 1907 and 1908, several illustrations of her early Billiken were published in "The Canada-West Magazine" for the short stories of Sara Hamilton Birchall, her friend and frequent collaborator. The public reception to her elvish Billiken was so positive that she patented the concept in 1908. With the success and national popularity of the Billiken, she moved to Chicago to attend the Fine Arts Institute of Chicago in 1909. She married Robert Smalley in 1912, after which her illustrations were signed "FPS." Continuing her collaboration with Sara Hamilton Birchall for several years, Smalley created artwork that built upon the mythical world of the elvish Billiken, but she also branched out to depict children's illustrations in a more realistic style. She worked as an advertising artist for Bullocks in Los Angeles for over 25 years and retired in 1948. She died in South Laguna, California on December 31, 1969. Saint Louis University Archives holds a number of her original illustrations for projects that were both unrealized as well those that were later published.