Artists and Their Pets:
Emily Newton Barto

Emily Newton Barto (1896–1968) was an American children’s book illustrator, writer, craftsperson, writer, and designer.

In 1937, as part of the New Deals Federal Art Project Barto painted the mural, “Animal Tales” for the Fordham Hospital in New York City. A docile tabby cat served as Barto’s model as she brought to life the nursery rhyme There Was a Crooked Man:

‘There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.’

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