Julie Child and the Art of Biological Illustration

Exhibition Hours: Monday - Friday, 11:30am – 2:00pm through March 14.

Location: Meigs Room, Swope Center, 5 North St., Woods Hole

The artistry of Julie Child has enhanced the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and Woods Hole communities for more than sixty years. Child’s precise, appealing illustrations have left an indelible mark on the MBL’s visual identity, from her rendering of the MBL legacy seal in 1960, to biological drawings for scientists, to designs for T-shirts and other items for the MBL Gift Shop.

Born in Philadelphia in 1934, Julie (Swope) Child began spending summers in Woods Hole at age 12 with her aunt and uncle, who lived in the “airplane house” on Juniper Point. She delighted in collecting insects and other specimens and attended the Children’s School of Science in Woods Hole. After studying biology and philosophy at Mills College in California, Swope completed a graduate degree at the School of Medical Illustration at Massachusetts General Hospital. While still enrolled, she received her first freelance job in 1958 from scientist Philip Armstrong, then director of the Marine Biological Laboratory.

Armstrong asked Swope to illustrate the developmental stages of a catfish, from single cell to juvenile, and then do the same for a killifish. She accomplished this by peering into the microscope and drawing the embryonic changes every half hour for 12 hours, continuing at longer intervals as the embryo matured. Armstrong gave Swope an alarm clock for the lab, which she used at night to wake up and continue drawing.

During this period, Swope met Frank Child, a cell biologist from the University of Chicago, who had a lab next to hers at MBL. They married in 1960, raised three children, and continued to spend almost every summer in Woods Hole. They both built a long association with the MBL, with Frank conducting research and serving as an MBL Society Member and Trustee, and Julie joining the 1888 Society and providing numerous illustrations to the lab. In 1994, the family moved permanently to Woods Hole.

Julie Child taught biological illustration at the Children’s School of Science in Woods Hole for 17 years, inspiring hundreds of students to study and draw from nature. She continues to teach and share her talent and passion for biological illustration with children and adults today.

Adapted from: Dean, Annie (2023) Julie Child and the Art of Biological Illustration. American Art Review, Vol. XXXV, No. 3.

This exhibition originates from the Cahoon Museum of American Art where it was organized by Consulting Curator, Annie Dean.

Watch an Interview with Julie Child. Credit: History of the Marine Biological Laboratory