Fox women - Drawing. Public domain image.

Bertha B. Lum was born Bertha Boynton Bull in may 1869 in Typton, Iowa. She studied art at the Institute of Art at Chicago from 1895-1900. She was a student of Anna Weston. She followed then the courses of Frank Holme who founded the Chicago School of Illustration in 1898 and who was trying to print with woodblocks. In 1903 she marries Burt F. Lum, a lawyer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.Their honeymoon takes them to Japan, which captivates Bertha. As Bertha studied with Frank Holme, she was interested in woodblock printing. The beginning of the XXe century in the arts was influenced by the Japonisme, in Europe and in the US.