Biography
Helen Dryden (1882-1972) was an illustrator known as one of the first Americans to bring European Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs to fashion illustration in the United States. Dryden had a deep understanding of Deco design that enabled her to create Broadway costumes, interior designs for automobiles, textiles for New York department stores, and kitchenware. Her talents led her to become the highest paid female artist in the 1920s and 30s making $100,000 a year. She was also described as “America’s First Lady of Design” in a June Issue of Life magazine. Dryden’s most notable work has been her Vogue covers and the 1937 Studebaker automobile interior design, which ultimately led to her esteemed reputation.
Born in 1882 in Baltimore, MD, Dryden displayed artistic talent from a young age, leading her to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1909, at twenty-seven years old, Dryden moved to New York City to pursue fashion illustration. She attempted to sell her illustrations to fashion magazines, but her work was continually rejected for a year until a breakthrough in 1910 when she was offered a contract with Vogue. Dryden built a prosperous relationship with the magazine that was under the art direction of Condé Nast at the time. She illustrated Vogue covers and interior pages for thirteen years.
Dryden’s first Vogue cover was published in 1910 as part of the Art Nouveau movement, the precursor to Art Deco, consisting of thin sinuous lines, ornate detailing, and nature motifs. The beginnings of the Art Nouveau movement were in France when art dealer, Siegfried Bing, part of the Les Vingt group, founded his gallery L’Art Nouveau. Helen Dryden was very inspired by European artists, especially in France, and she was knowledgeable about the French art world. Dryden visited Paris herself before WWI and for the 1925 Paris International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts. Dryden found fashion illustration in the U.S. to be representational but lacking in artistry. She was one of the first women to participate in Art Nouveau illustration, which was dominated by European men such as Erté, Léon Bakst, and Umberto Brunelleschi, whom she admired.
One Vogue cover published in September of 1922 featured a woman reclining on a sofa, perhaps in her home. Dryden’s spaces were imaginary and whimsical, making the environment appear abstract to the viewer. The sofa is a rich purple color with lavender stripes. Behind the sofa is a Byobu, a Japanese folding screen, which was common home decor used to divide rooms, especially in the U.S. and Europe in the 1920s. Japanese art became desirable in the West when the Tokugawa Shogunate, the government that ruled during the Edo period (1603-1867), opened Japanese seaports to international trade. Not only was it likely for Europeans and Americans to own Japanese art, but late Art Nouveau and Art Deco artists also adopted techniques such as woodblock printing and layering stencils to create the clean lines they admired in Japanese art. Dryden likely used these same techniques to create the precise lines and perfectly rectangular frame. The illustration also depicts a flapper woman who wears modern fashions such as pearls, loose silhouettes, and a short hairstyle. The subject also appears to have heavier makeup and is smoking, which were classic attributes of the modern woman at the time. The woman’s layered dress with wide sleeves and a matching turban were inspired by Léon Bakst’s illustrations for the Ballet Russes’ costumes, a ballet group formed in Paris by Russian artists known for elaborate dresses and their great influence on French fashion in the 1920s.
In 1915, Dryden married artist, John Wentworth Russell, however the marriage only lasted for one year. She also had a relationship with actor, John Davidson, although this was also a short-term connection. Dryden did not have any children, and she was never in a long-term relationship.
During Dryden’s time in New York City, she also designed costumes for Broadway productions and became a costume design professor. In 1916, Dryden designed costumes for the musical Watch Your Step and Broadway production Claire de Lune that emulated the Ballet Russes’ designs through rich colors and whimsical qualities. Then she became one of the first professors of costume design at the Grand Central School of Art.
In 1923, during her career as a costume designer, she left Vogue to begin illustrating for The Delineator, a fashion and lifestyle magazine. The Delineator was an exemplar of Art Deco illustration that valued minimalist design and the efficiency of the new American industrial systems. These cover designs differed from her curvilinear Art Nouveau style for Vogue. One cover published in April of 1929 illustrates a woman driving her own car. The woman is depicted only from the collarbone up and her hand on a large steering wheel takes up the bottom left of the cover. The figure of the woman and her clothing are made up of all geometric shapes. This cover reflects the magazine’s values of celebrating American invention and streamlining design.
In 1925, Dryden designed a silk textile that had elements of modern life on the garment such as high heels, taxicabs, and cocktail shakers. The design was for the Americana Collection of Stehli Silks. Then in 1927, the garment titled “accessories” was displayed in the Macy’s Exposition of Art in Trade in New York City. The exposition’s purpose was to make a connection between industrial systems and art to bring greater monetary value to their commercial products.
In the late 1920s, Dryden worked for the Dura Company in Ohio, designing kitchen fixtures such as faucets. She continued to design in an Art Deco style consisting of geometric shapes to reflect modern society.
In the 1930s, Raymond Loewy, who had worked with Dryden at Vogue, recruited her to design the interior of the 1937 Studebaker automobile. Dryden’s work was impressive to all, but especially women who were newly driving their own automobiles and appreciated her excellent tailoring of fine fabrics with neutral colors.
Dryden amassed great success and lived on 320 Park Avenue and a Fifth Avenue penthouse in New York. In the 1940s, she seemingly disappeared from the public eye. The magazine articles about her career came to a halt. In July of 1956, The New York Times reported that Dryden was living in a run-down East Village hotel room and receiving Welfare Department checks. She is known to have suffered from a mental health crisis, but the exact details are unclear, a possible factor could have been the death of her two sisters and brother in the 1930s. In 1966, she was institutionalized at Pilgrim State Hospital, a psychiatric center on Long Island. Dryden passed away there in October 1972.
Helen Dryden’s legacy has gone unnoticed in the history of illustration and design until recent years. Dryden’s talents are impressive, and the unfortunate end to her life should not diminish her great accomplishments.
Essay by Halle Davies. The Walt Reed Distinguished Intern at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Davies is currently studying art history at Regent's University in London, England. She also participated in the gap year program at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London.
Illustrations by Helen Dryden
Additional Resources
Bibliography
“1937 Studebaker Dictator President Styled By Helen Dryden Sales Brochure.” Troxel’s Auto Literature. 1937 Studebaker Dictator President Styled By Helen Dryden Sales Brochure
“Art Nouveau.” Britannica. June 27, 2025. Art Nouveau | History, Characteristics, Artists, & Facts | Britannica
“A Useful Exhibition.” The New York Times. May 5, 1927. Accessed: July 16, 2025. A USEFUL EXHIBITION. - The New York Times
Broman, Elizabeth. “Helen Who?? Her Life as a Fashion Illustrator, Costume Designer, and...(Part one).” Cooper Hewitt. March 19, 2016. Helen Who?? Her Life as a Fashion Illustrator, Costume Designer, and… (Part One) | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Broman, Elizabeth. “Helen Who?? Her Life as an Industrial Designer (Part Two).” Cooper Hewitt. March 25, 2016. Helen Who?? Her Life as an Industrial Designer (Part Two) | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
“City Relief is Cut on 50-Cent Issue; Helen Dryden, First Highly Paid Woman Designer, Gets $30 Biweekly.” The New York Times. July 25, 1956. Accessed: July 16, 2025. CITY RELIEF IS CUT ON 50-CENT ISSUE; Helen Dryden, First Highly Paid Woman Designer, Gets $30 Biweekly - The New York Times
“Delineator April 1929.” WashU Libraries. april1929-1024x1311.jpg (1024×1311)
“Helen Dryden: Illustrator and Industrial Designer in the Age of Art Deco.” WashU Libraries. May 17, 2017. Helen Dryden: Illustrator and Industrial Designer in the Age of Art Deco - WashU Libraries
Heys, Ed. “Helen Dryden: fashion illustration and automobile hardware design.” Hemmings. August 27, 2024. Helen Dryden: fashion illustration and automobile hardware design | The Online Automotive Marketplace | Hemmings, The World's Largest Collector Car Marketplace
“Tokugawa period.” Britannica. Tokugawa period | Definition & Facts | Britannica
