Frank Stanley Herring, 1894 - 12 Jun 1966 Search this
Sitter:
Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth, 24 May 1878 - 2 Jan 1972 Search this
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Frame: 114.3 x 88.6 x 4.1cm (45 x 34 7/8 x 1 5/8")
Type:
Painting
Place:
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Date:
1929-30
Exhibition Label:
Born Oakland, California
Lillian Gilbreth had twelve children during the course of her marriage. That did not prevent her, however, from obtaining a doctorate in industrial psychology. Nor did it stop her from taking an active part in the consulting business started by her husband Frank, a pioneer in efficiency engineering. With Frank’s death in 1924, Lillian took over the business, and by the 1930s she was the country’s leading authority in applying workplace efficiency to home management. Among Gilbreth’s most lasting achievements were her efforts to devise ways for the physically handicapped to lead more independent lives.
Gilbreth posed for this portrait around 1930. Later her daughter Ernestine purchased the picture with royalties from Cheaper by the Dozen, the best-selling memoir that she and her brother had written about their life.
Provenance:
The artist; purchased 1949 by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Paradise Valley, Ariz., and Reedley, Calif., daughter of sitter; gift to NPG 1997