I have always found Tasha Tudor and her work to be a great inspiration. She was an extremely talented illustrator, a writer, and loved working with her hands. She enjoyed gardening, growing flax, spinning, weaving, basket making, sewing; she had numerous creative outlets that she excelled at. Tasha Tudor was born in 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the daughter or a naval architect and a portrait painter. She took to gardening at a very young age and enjoyed the simpler things in life like milking her cow. She didn’t show much interest in becoming “a debutante and coming out into Boston society.” “I was teased in school because I was so connected with the past, wore old-fashioned dresses, and wouldn’t cut my hair. ” (1)
In 1938 Tudor married and started a family. She published and illustrated her first book, Pumpkin Moonshine in 1938 also. She and her husband, along with two children lived in Webster, New Hampshire, where the couple had bought an old farm. In 1942 Tudor began designing greeting cards for Herbert Duller, Inc. By 1943 a watercolor she had done was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1944 she illustrated and released a book called Mother Goose. The success of this book allowed her and her husband to buy a farm that had an old homestead upon its grounds, from 1789. Tasha had two more children after moving there, in total two boys and two girls.
Tudor’s illustrations often were filled with pictures from her life; her own children, flowers and plants that she lovingly grew and her pets. She really enjoyed Christmas and Valentine’s Day and passed this enthusiasm on to her children. She also loved to put on marionette shows while her children were young. This brought in extra spending money and was fun for the entire family.
Her son, Thomas, went abroad for school and when he returned he brought home a corgi dog which became very attached to Tasha. She went on to adopt up to twelve corgis dogs and even created a story called “Corgiville Fair”, which was published and a huge success in 1971. By 1972 she was eager to move to Vermont and purchase a smaller home than the larger home she had raised her children in. Her marriage had ended in 1961 and a second brief marriage was also behind her. She bought some land in southeastern Vermont that had secluded acreage and some forested areas. Her son Seth built her a home based on another home she liked, owned by friends, that was a Cape Cod style farmhouse from 1750. He also built her a barn for her many animals and a staging area for marionette shows. She cut back on her illustration work the year she moved, but later on, she continued to work until her early eighties. Tasha illustrated nearly a hundred books in her lifetime.
Tasha continued her love for gardening in her Vermont home. The pictures of her home show a landscape filled with daffodils, lettuce poppies, dame’s rockets, roses, and many other flowers. Her home was filled with antiques and precious pieces passed down through her family for many years. In Vermont, she raised goats instead of cows and enjoyed having her grandchildren come to visit and dress up in her vintage clothing. She died in 2008 in Marlboro, Vermont. Her daughters, Bethany Tudor, and Efner Holmes, also became successful illustrators and writers.
The last twenty years of her life she became well known worldwide and her books were translated into many languages. There are numerous books written about her life and work. If you would like to find out more I recommend viewing the Tudor family website. I have the books Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts and The Private World of Tasha Tudor. I really enjoy sitting and reading these books, as well as the inspiration I derive from seeing all the beautiful pictures. There is a museum in Brattleboro, Vermont that is dedicated to her life’s work and they have various events and show the PBS documentaries about Tasha’s life.
“My antique clothing collection is a great folly of mine. The majority are from the 1830’s, but I have examples from every style and decade from 1770 to 1870. It is very common for a friend who tries on one of my old dresses to feel transported to another time. It gives a different perspective on life.” (2)
(1) pg. 20 The Private World of Tasha Tudor
(2) pg.66 The Private World of Tasha Tudor
All photos from Flickr, except the last three which were taken from my book. The photographer is Richard brown for those photos. All written material by Marilyn Lavender. © Marilyn Lavender, 2016. “All rights reserved.”
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