Guilbeau - "Back Pasture" One color realistic lithograph of a back pasture landscape including trees and a fence.

Honoré Guilbeau • Ohio (1907-2006)

Back Pasture • Lithograph on Paper 14-1/2" x 20-1/8"

As Honoré Guilbeau lay against the mossy rocks we hope there was no pain. Only the century-long memories of a life well lived. Perhaps her thoughts drifted to a skybox view of her beloved Cuyahoga River Valley with the bright ribbon of river flowing through the forest like a giant python moving through the grass. The scene would have looked like the pebble mural gracing the side of the nearby Peninsula Library. Honoré Guilbeau created that mural In fact, she helped found the library, itself, just a few short years after moving from Cleveland to a Peninsula farm with husband “Buck” Cooke and their two pre-school children.

She was a whimsical mother who turned the family barn into an art school for children and illustrated children’s books while her own were growing up. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was made merry with Guilbeau’s illustrations, as were The Birthday Tree; Who Goes There in My Garden?; and Mrs. Magpie’s Invention.

We hope her thoughts lingered on summer evenings at “Peninsula Players,” the summer-stock theatre she helped found. There she danced and designed beautiful sets and costumes.

INTERESTING STORIES FROM OUR SPONSORS

Perhaps she remembered winter trips to Mexico where she climbed across ceramic rooftops, sketchbook in hand, for a better view of the surrounding town and landscape. It was said she could complete a sketch in the time it took her husband to fill the car with gasoline.

As rain fell down upon her broken body, did Honoré Guilbeau remember the famed lithographs she created for the Depression-era WPA? Did she linger on her May Show prizes, or her prints shown at the Whitney Museum in New York City?

Perhaps her thoughts drifted back to summer tours with a dance troupe, or to years spent studying at the Chicago Art Institute, where Buck Cooke first came into her life. Or perhaps her last smile was caused by memories of Louisiana in the early 1900s as a young girl traveled to dance class with her mother.

The only thing we know with certainty, is that on that day in 2006 -- after a fall while hiking -- Honoré Guilbeau Cooke stopped learning … for the first time in almost 100 years.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection
Gift to the Museum after Honoré's death from her son, Jeremy, at the farm house in Peninsula, OH, 2008.9

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“If you’ve ever driven along Riverview Road in Peninsula you’ve seen the lovely mural on the wall of the local Library. She created it with pebbles based on the Python Legend of the Cuyahoga River, explaining why it’s known as the ‘Crooked River.’”

2.
“She was once a professional dancer and many of her art works deal with dancing and places she saw while performing.”

3.
“She was among the founders of the Peninsula Players theatre, the Peninsula Library and a children’s art school. She lived to be 99 because she was too busy to die.”

4.
“3 months shy of her 100th birthday, she died when she fell into a ravine while hiking in the Cuyahoga National Forest. Let me repeat … a 99 year old woman hiking in the woods! Amazing.”

Honoré Guilbeau Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1907

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We know her mother’s name was Mary and she encouraged her daughter’s ambitions to be a professional dancer.

1929

After a brief career as a dancer, Honoré moved to Chicago. Her mother cautioned that a dancer’s legs eventually gave out, so she enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute where her mother was a docent and could keep an eye on her daughter. Honoré gravitated toward printmaking. While in school, she met and married Edmund “Buck” Cooke, so her mother must not have been keeping too close an eye on her.

1932

While still studying under Bolton Brown at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she won the prestigious Logan Prize for Lithography for her print “Backstage Fairgrounds” inspired by her summer tours with a dance troupe. Even after marrying she continued to sign her art using her maiden name which she felt had more “oomph.”

1930s

Moved to Cleveland where husband, Buck Cooke, took a job with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Honoré worked for the WPA and executed many lithographs for the “Print-a-Month” series sponsored by the Depression-era works administration. She also was employed by the WPA to design sets and costumes for the Cleveland Theatre for Youth.

1937

After winning a string of prizes at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual May Show, some of her better prints were included in a show at the prestigious Whitney Museum in New York City.

1939

Honoré and husband, Buck, moved the family, now including two preschool children, Jeremy and Jennifer, to a tranquil farm in Peninsula, Ohio, about 30 miles south of Cleveland. Since the limited water supply in Peninsula was unsuitable for printmaking, she continued to work in watercolor, clay, fiber and drawing.

1940s

With choreographer Eleanora Buchla Kubinyl, she transformed the Cooke family barn into an arts’ school for children. She also helped form the Peninsula Players, a theatre group. Honoré danced and created sets and costumes for the group. She did the same for the Cleveland Theatre for Youth and Cain Park productions.

1943

Helped establish the Peninsula Library.

1945

Won a Heritage Press competition for book illustrators with The Adventures of Hajji Baba. Heritage then commissioned her to illustrate A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and The Shaving of Shagpat.

1950s

Taught at the Akron Art Institute.

1960s

Collaborated with Cleveland author Ethel Collier on four children’s books: Hundreds and Hundreds of Strawberries; Who Goes There in My Garden?; The Birthday Tree; and I Know a Farm.

1964

Created,Transportation in the Valley, a large pebble mural installed on the outer wall of the Peninsula Library. It is designed around an aerial view of the Cuyahoga River Valley and the Python legend that grew around the odd, twisting shape of the Cuyahoga River. This mural can still be seen today, looking every bit as contemporary as the day it was installed.

1971

Wrote and illustrated another children’s book, Mrs. Magpie’s Invention for Young Scott Books.

2006

While hiking in the Deep Lock Park section of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park with longtime friend, Edna Ratner, she fell into a 40 foot deep ravine and died. She was 99 years old and, according to all who knew her, maintained a vigorous, independent lifestyle until the end.