author
b. 1879
Best known for the witty 1913 book The Cubies' ABC, this American writer turned a moment of modern-art culture shock into playful satire. Her work survives as a small but memorable snapshot of how Cubism was received in the United States.
Mary Chase Mills Lyall was an American writer born in 1879. The surviving public record appears to be quite sparse, but library and catalog sources consistently connect her with The Cubies' ABC (1913), a humorous alphabet book published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
That book was created with Earl Harvey Lyall, who supplied the illustrations, and it playfully mocked the Cubist craze surrounding the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York. Today, the book is often remembered less as a children's title than as a lively period piece that captures one early American reaction to modern art.
Because biographical information on Lyall is limited in the sources readily available online, many personal details remain unclear. Still, her name endures through this unusual collaboration, which gives modern readers a funny, sharply dated, and culturally revealing glimpse of its era.