Background
Helen was born in Lima, New York, in 1868. She was of English ancestry. Her grandfather crossed the continent with his family by covered wagon from Maryland in 1851. Her father, William Bierlie Hyde, became an inventor, civil engineer, and clever draftsman. He married in 1865 the daughter of a physician of New York state, Marietta Butler, who had gone to San Francisco as a teacher. While he was away on an engineering expedition, his wife returned to visit her parents in Lima, N. Y. , where Helen Hyde was born. Her early life was spent in San Francisco.
Education
She studied art in San Francisco.
She studied in New York at the Art Students' League, in Berlin with Skarbina, three years in Paris with Raphael Collin and Albert Sterner, in Holland and England, consuming ten years in hard intensive work.
Career
The children of the Chinese quarter of the city especially attracted her, for their picturesqueness gave her an opportunity for illustration. Her first work was in color etching, though later she was a pioneer in the United States in the making of woodblock prints after the Japanese manner.
She decided to go to Japan, intending to remain only a few months. Her interest in Japanese art had been stimulated by her association with Félix Régamey, with whom she had also studied in Paris. She stayed fifteen years, establishing herself in Tokio in a charming house, soon acquiring proficiency in the intricate art of wood-block painting, cutting, and printing.
Two of her illustrated books for children are Moon Babies (1900) by G. Orr Clark, and Jingles from Japan (1901), by Mabel Hyde. She brought to her perfection of line and color the western feeling for, and appreciation of, the dainty pictures made by the women and children in their gardens, on their bridges, and under their gorgeous umbrellas.
She returned to America in 1912 and later settled in Chicago, but she took trips to South Carolina, Mexico, and India – parts of the world which presented different phases of life and beautiful material for prints. During the World War she worked tirelessly for the soldiers. Her works have been exhibited in almost every city from New York to California, and they include, beside woodcuts and etchings, lithographs and aquatints. Large collections are in the National Library, the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, and the California State Library. She is also represented in many galleries and museums.
She died in Pasadena, having moved to California shortly before her death. She possessed originality, artistic skill, and a keen appreciation of beauty in nature and life.
Membership
She was a member of the leading art societies in America and of the Société de la Gravure Originale en Couleur, Paris.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
The American Magazine of Art remarked:
"There is a charm about her rendition of children, whether they be Japanese, Chinese, Mexican or American, which gives token to her sympathy with childhood; and with her passing has gone from the world of life of cheerfulness and courage and high purpose which, like a flower of sweet fragrance, has added beauty to life. "
