By 1925, at the age of 21, Maxwell was illustrating for Collier's and Golden Book magazines and had established a studio at the famous Tenth Street Studio Building. at 51 West Tenth Street in New York, home to "artist entrepreneurs" for 98 years —artists from the Hudson River School to the American Impressionists — including such famous artists as Frederick E. Church, Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, Sanford R. Gifford, John La Farge and William Merritt Chase. The previous occupant of Maxwell's studio was the Lebanese artist, poet, and writer Kahlil Gibran.