Maud Squire was born January 30, 1873 in Cincinnati. Her parents encouraged her artistic training, though both had died by the time she was a young woman. At the age of 21, she enrolled in the Cincinnati Art Academy and studied under Lewis Henry Meakin and Frank Duveneck. At the academy she met fellow student Ethel Mars, with whom she would live and travel for the rest of her life.

Squire began her career while still a student, traveling to New York to meet with publishers and exhibiting her work. By 1900 she and Mars were living in New York City, traveling to Europe, and collaborating on illustrating children's books. By 1906 they had settled in Paris together. Within a few months of thei...