Thomas Handforth

Tacoma artist Thomas Handforth was a painter and watercolorist but is perhaps best known for his prints and his work as an author and illustrator of children’s books. Handforth was classically trained at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York as well as the École des Beaux Arts, Paris. He also studied with Tacoma painter, Alice Engley Beek (1867–1951). Handforth was a world traveler, visiting Morocco, Mexico, China, and Canada and creating images of their citizens and lifeways. He received a Guggenheim fellowship for his creative work in China and a Caldecott Award for his book Mei Li in 1939.

Handforth was an extremely prolific artist and large groups of his work can be found in museum and library collections throughout the Northwest as well as in numerous private collections.