Sarah Noble Ives

Ives was born in Grosse Ile, Michigan, near Detroit, in March 1864, to S. William and Sarah Mana Hyde Ives.[3][4] She attended Port Huron High School, where she first began studying art,[5] and a Training School for Elocution and Literature run by Mrs. Edna Chafee Noble, who was a suffragette and a role model to Sarah. She continued her education first in New York City at the School for Artists and Artisans and then in Paris at the Académie Julian and Académie Delécluse.[3] When she returned to the United States she began work as a freelance author and illustrator in New York under the name "Noble Ives",[2] in line with other female artists of the time who hid their identity in various ways.[6]

Watercolor illustration of Cinderella at the ball.

Illustration from Songs of the Shining Way, 1899

Ives specialized in descriptive illustrations with varied, distinct characters. Some of the pieces include decorative art nouveau elements and apparel.[6] She was proficient in black and white pen and ink drawings as well as watercolors and oil painting.

Ives lived and worked in New York for some time, then returned to Port Huron, Michigan in 1921.[10] In 1925, she left Michigan and retired to Altadena, California, with her three sisters, Florence, Cayde and Julia. All four remained unmarried.[11]

Ives was recruited by the local historical society to compile a history of the town, which was published in 1938 by the Star-News Publishing Company. A resident of the town remembered her as "a very lovely little old lady" who "trudged up and down the streets of Altadena ringing doorbells. ... Her house-to-house canvassing was not to sell books, but to gather information to write a book."[2]

Ives died in November 1944. Her home in Altadena is now included on local historical tours.[2] Original artwork by Ives can sometimes be found at auction,[12] in private collections and on display in museum exhibits.[9]