Bibliographies of Important Golden Age Illustrators

Maxfield Parrish: 1870-1966 

Born in Philadelphia, Penn. he began drawing for his own amusement as a child. He would often cut out his drawings and place them as cut offs, a habit some believe led to his "diorama" feel to the placement of his figures. His given name was Frederick Parrish but he later adopted the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, Maxfield, as his middle name, and later as his professional name. His father was an engraver and landscape artist, and young Parrish's parents encouraged his talent. Maxfield also took early tutelage from his father. Originally, Maxfield attended school for architecture but dropped out and focuse on art. He attended Haverford College and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He entered into an artistic career that lasted for more than half a century. Behind Norman Rockwell, he is considered one of the most popular and influential artists of the Golden Age.

Books, Magazine, and print published (incomplete):
Eugene Field - "Poems of Childhood"
Kenneth Graham - "Golden Age" and "Dream Days"
Brown and Bigelow Calendars
Harper's Monthly - 1895-1906 (dates of involvement in publication)
Collier's Mag. - 1903-1936
Century Mag. - 1897-1917
Outing Magazine
Life Magazine

Technique
Parrish used a very specific and exact method of glazing to achieve his look. In an attempt to preserve color accuracy during printing, Parrish would paint in transparent glazes of process colors with each color being on a separate layer. He laid down the color in the order in which they were printed by the magazine - cyan, yellow, magenta, black. There exist a few paintings which were unfinished works in which you can see the first blue glaze laid down. - Many books go into a lot of detail about specifics of this process including mediums used, method of application, even proper temperature of surface.

Interesting Notes
Used photo reference often - favorite model was Susan Lewin
1896 - he lost a contest held by Century Magazine to J.C. Leyendecker
1897 - wins contest held by Scribner's Magazine
- artist hero was A.B. Frost

Franklin Booth 1874-1948

Booth was born and raised on a farm in Carmel, Indiana. As a boy, he was determined to become an artist. He studied pictures in books and magazines, including Scribner's and Harper's. His unusual technique was the result of a misunderstanding: Booth scrupulously copied magazine illustrations which he thought were pen-and-ink drawings. In fact, they were wood engravings. As a result, this led him to develop a style of drawing composed of thousands of lines, whose careful positioning next to one another produced variations in density and shade. The characteristics of his art were his scale extremes with large buildings and forests looming over tiny figures, decorative scrolls and borders, classic hand lettering and gnarled trees.

Publications: - first recorded publication was in 1907 in Scribner's
Harper's
The Century Magazine
Everybody's Magazine
McClure's
Cosmopolitan                                
Redbook
Good Housekeeping
House and Garden
Ladies Home Journal

Other
Bulova Watches
Studebaker
Overlan
Rolls-Royce
Wallace Silver
Paramount 
Pictures
GE
Etsy Organ
Whitman's Candy
the Red Cross

Books
The Flying Islands of the Night (1913) 
The Prince and the Pauper (1917)
A Hoosier Holiday (1916 -First US travel biography) 
The Poet (1914)
From Death to Life by A. Apukhtin (1917)

Influence on Contemporaries (I copied this from Wiki)
    

• "I have always admired the beauty of Franklin Booth's work and regard him as an exponent of the very best in American Illustration". ~Norman Rockwell.^[3]
• "Booth's pen-and-inks have the lush richness of a fine old tapestry plus an exciting imagination". ~ James Montgomery Flagg.^[4]
• "I have always stood spellbound before on of Booth's noble pen paintings. They recall today the Golden Age of American Illustration when such giants as Pyle, Abbey, Remington, and Gibson set a standard hard to reach. Booth earned his place beside such men as These". ~Dean Cornwell.^[5]
• "I still wish I could do a pen drawing the way Franklin Booth handled them. The present-day student who wants quick success should be forced to copy a few of his illustrations just for the discipline. I used to do them just for the love of it". ~ Milton Caniff. ^[6]
• "Franklin Booth always will be so much better than practically anyone who ever picked up a pen." ~ Bernie Wrightson. ^[7]

Subjects:
Booth often worked with fantasy. A staple of his work is a far removed viewpoint which placed the subject of action in a relatively small portion of the page, allowing for grand, majestic sweeps of view. Architecture and trees are often present in his work.

Rockwell Kent (1882-1971)

Born in Tarrytown, NY to a well-off middle class family, Kent began studying art at the Horace Mann School in New York in 1895. He then attended an outdoor summer art school in Shinnecock Hills, Long Island under the instruction of William Merrit Chase, who, recognizing a talent in Kent, offered him a full scholarship to the New York School of Art. In the early 1900s Kent traveled to Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine, Alaska, and Tierra del Fuego, as well as numerous other places that served as the source of inspiration for much of his work/landscapes, and offered an escape from the turmoil he found in NY. As well as being a book illustrator, lithographer, engraver, and writer, Kent's life was characterized by his political activism. Classes taken with Robert Henri at the NY School of Art introduced him to the hardships of members of the lower class and a lifestyle in stark contrast with that of the privileged home Kent had grown up in. By 1908 he had joined the Socialist party as an advocate for social justice, world peace, and civil liberties. He was especially empathetic towards poverty-stricken immigrant workers who had no social programs like food stamps or welfare to provide relief and joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). 

Books: 

Candide (1928)

Moby Dick (1930)

The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer (1930)

Salamina (1935)

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (1936)

Goethe's Faust (1941)

-also did advertising work for companies such as Steinway & Sons, Rolls-Royce, and the American Car and Foundry Company

Technique:

 Many of Kent's landscapes are oil paintings, which he attempted to render as realistically as possible, but he his well known for his pen & india ink drawings, which are characterized by bold outlines, solid black areas, and clear tones composed of parallel lines. His techniques were ideal for reproduction/the printed page. He eventually also took up wood engraving and lithography.

Subjects:

Kent would have preferred to live on the outskirts of civilization, in places like Alaska & Tierra del Fuego, which presented him with uncomplicated worlds from which to paint. Many of his paintings are landscapes from places such as these. Many of his works are dramatic scenes of nature. They reflect his own struggles and anguish, and the fate of man as being tragic and solitary in comparison with the vastness of the universe, or possible the nobility of man in the face of this vastness. 

Interesting notes:

Early in his career, Kent would sign works under the pen name Hogarth Jr., not wanting to identify himself as an illustrator. 

He was the first American artist to exhibit work in the Soviet Union, and was black-listed during the McCarthy era. 

Elected to Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1986. 

J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1951) 

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Germany but moved with his family to Chicago in 1882, when he was 8 years old. At 16 he worked as an unpaid apprentice at a local engraving company and took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. He was later among of group of Americans who would travel to Europe to become classically trained in the art schools of Europe and then return to the U.S. ready to work. Leyendecker studied in Paris with his brother at the Academie Julian. Leyendecker was overall a private man. There are not many records of his life. He attempted to hide his homosexuality for fear it would damage his career as an illustrator. Often, his work has an underlying homoerotic nature to it. 

Publications:

The Saturday Evening Post (first cover done 1899, produced 320 more over the next 40 yrs. and created famous New Year Baby series)

Arrow Collar Man (received commission in 1905, would continue for 25 years)

^both earned him widespread fame and popularity

Kuppenheimer clothes (similar to Arrow Collar) - another successful advertising campaign

Collier's 

The Century

Scribner's

numerous other magazines and advertising campaigns.

Contemporaries:

James Montgomery Flagg, John Held, Norman Rockwell (modeled his career and technique off of Leyendecker). Howard Chandly Christi, Coles Phillips, Harrison Fisher

Technique:

Used unique style of cross hatching w/ a brush and oil paint, known as pochet. 

Leyendecker refused to use photographs as reference. He made all his drawings directly from models, then color paintings from the models, and finally gridded it to the actual scale. This process he called his "picture puzzle" process. He used to smooth oil on the actual model's muscles to enhance the reflective light. His favorite mediums are oil, watercolor, gouache, pencil & ink usually on a white background. He created a medium out of linseed oil and turpentine so the oil dries faster. His technique helped him to achieve what would come to be known as "The Leyendecker Look"

Interesting notes:

Elected to Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977.

The Arrow Collar man, seen as the American spirit personified, was the first male sex symbol and the first sex symbol of either gender in advertising. 

Charles Beach, Leyendecker's longtime lover, was the model for the arrow collar man, which was the first major branding effort in advertising. 

Howard Pyle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Pyle

March 5, 1853 - November 9, 1911
primarily did books for young audiences
1894 he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry
after 1900 he founded the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art (later called the Brandywine school)
famous students include Oliver Rush, NC Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Elenor Abbott, Ellen Bernard, Thomas Pyle, and Jessie Wilcox Smith

Important Works - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883), Otto of the Silver Hand (1888, original work), works in Harper's Weekly and St. Nicholas Magazine, Men of Iron

traveled to Florance, Italy to study mural painting in 1910, and died there in 1911 of Bright's disease

influenced by Winslow Homer




NC Wyeth


http://www.ncwyeth.org

http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/wyeth.htm
    NC Wyeth: A Biography

http://www.americanillustration.org/html/nw/bio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.C._Wyeth


born Needham, Massachusetts
He went to Mechanics Arts School to learn drafting, and then the Massachusetts Normal Arts School and the Eric Pape School of Art to learn illustration, under George Loftus Noyes and Charles W. Reed.
When two of his friends were accepted to Howard Pyle's School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Wyeth was invited to try to join them in 1902.
He probably picked up his glazing technique from Pyle.
A bucking bronco for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on February 21, 1903 was Wyeth's first commission as an illustrator. He was 21 years old.

Works
Mowing (1907)
Long John Silver and Hawkins (1911)
The Great Train Robbery (1912)
The Fence Builders (1915)
The Scottish Chiefs (1921)
The Giant (1923)
Apotheosis of the Family (1932)
Dying Winter (1934)
The Alchemist (1938)
Deep Cover Lobster (1939)
The War Letter (1944)
Nightfall (1945)

Years Active - 1903-1945

Subject Matter - Native Americans (visited Navajo and drew from personal interactions with them to create his paintings)

Died in an accident at a railroad crossing at age 62

Lynd Ward (1905-1985)

An American artist, Lynd Ward was born in Chicago and grew up in Chicago and the Canadian wilderness. He is best known for his woodcut prints and illustrated children's books. In 1926 he graduated from Columbia U. with a major in fine arts, married May McNeer and traveled to Europe for a year. During this time, he studied at the Leipzig Academy for Graphic Arts in Germany where he was introduced to wood engraving by Hans Alexander Mueller. He was also exposed to the work of Belgian artist Frans Masereel and German artist Otto Nuckel, who were exploring storytelling through pictures and no words in their work. Inspired, Ward illustrated the novel Gods' Man (1929), told entirely using woodcut pictures, which first gained him recognition. Ward was later established as the first American creator of wordless novels. He also became established as one of the first artists to express a philosophy of illustrating children's books because of his interest in bookmaking and attention to craftsmanship and the look of the book as a whole (integrated type and pictures). Throughout the 40s and 50s his focus was illustrated children's books, often collaborating with his wife. In 1973 he returned to the 'story w/o words' with The Silver Pony, done in lithograph. 

Other publications:

(In addition to Gods' Man, produced 5 additional novels in woodcuts by 1937):

-Mad Man's Drum

-Wild Pilgrimage 

-Prelude to a Million Years

-Song Without Words

-Vertigo

Also illustrated wood-engraved editions of:

-Faust

-Frankenstein 

-Now That the Gods are Dead

-and more

in early 60s, illustrations often appear in Boy's Life 

Beowulf (1939)

won a Newbery Medal in 1944 for Johnny Tremain 

won a Caldecott Medal in 1953 for The Biggest Bear (1952)

Interesting notes:

In first grade he decided he wanted to be an artist because he discovered that Ward was "draw" spelled backwards. 

Red Rose Girls (Elizabeth Shippen Green, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Violet Oakley)

American artists Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Violet Oakley all met while studying under Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute in PA. They became lifelong friends, and shared a studio where they all lived and worked together for 8 years along with their friend Henrietta Cozens (who cooked, gardened, and ran the household). Pyle dubbed them the "Red Rose Girls" because of the place they lived during that time, the Red Rose Inn in Villanova, PA. Art institutions for women were scarce during the 19th c. It was expected that women would marry and, if lucky and wealthy enough, received only a "fashionable education." The women, isolated from the community of male artists that was presented with more education and opportunity at that time, managed to liberate themselves from domestic distractions, but create a supportive environment for the three artists through their close friendship. Many women in Pyle's school collaborated, leading them to approach assignments in similar ways. A strong linear drawing to start was then filled in with flat, decorative color. The influence of Japanese decorative art and French art nouveau is visible in much of their work. Smith and Oakley began to collaborate when Pyle recommended them for their first important commission: a series of illustrations for Henry Longfellow's Evangeline (1897). Eventually Elizabeth Green married, and the Red Rose Girls disbanded. 

Jessie Wilcox Smith (1863-1935)

Before pursuing a career in the arts, Smith was a kindergarden teacher. After deciding that she wasn't cut out for teaching, Smith decided to pursue an artistic career, after encouragement from a friend who had seen a few drawings she'd done. In 1884 she attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (founded in 1844 by Sarah Peter, but very conservative with a focus on decorative pattern & ornament) but in 1885 switched to the Philadelphia Academy for Fine Arts, the only school in Philadelphia that offered rigorous training for women students who were serious about art. She then studied at the Drexel Institute, under the direction of Howard Pyle. She knew however, she wanted to do something involving children, and eventually resolved to painting them. She never married, but is known for her paintings of mothers, babies, and children and also did commissioned portraits of children throughout her career. Some of her best known illustrations are for works such as Little Women, Heidi, A Book of Old Stories, & Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. Smith also did many illustrations for Collier's and McLure's and nearly 200 covers for Good Housekeeping. In 1915 she received a Silver Medal award at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Her work is described as "more romantic than realistic", her own dislike of conflict manifested in her "idealistic and often joyous paintings." 

Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871-1954)

Green was born in Philadelphia, 8 years after Smith. She studied at PAFA w/ Thomas Eakins from 1889-1893, 8 years after Jessie Wilcox Smith. She also studied with Pyle at the Drexel Institute, where she met Smith. She did some early illustrations for Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post and for many years was under an exclusive contract with Harper's Monthly. Her work has been likened to stain glass windows, containing bold outlines that were perfect for reproduction. Later she married Huger Elliot, breaking up the Red Rose Girls.

Violet Oakley (1874-1961)

The youngest of the trio, Oakley came from a family of artists and so took classes at Art Students League and spent several months in England and France under the instruction of Edmund Aman Jean. She traveled to Paris in 1895. However her trip was cut short due to her father's health, and she returned to the states to attend PAFA and studied under Cecilia Beaux. After only one semester however, in 1897, she enrolled in Howard Pyle's illustration class at the Drexel Institute. While Pyle helped her gain illustration assignments, she preferred to work with stain glass and on a larger, decorative scale. Her largest commission was given in 1902, to do 18 murals for the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA. This was the first time an American woman artist had been given such a prestigious public commission. She also spent several months in Geneva, Switzerland after the formation of the League of Nations in 1927, recording sessions and making portraits of the participants. She won many awards and an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Drexel Institute in 1948.

Walter Crane - British (1845-1915)
-considered parts of the arts/crafts movement
-greatly influenced by pre-raphaelite brotherhood
-famous english children's book illustrator.
-apprenticed with an engraver at age 13.
-influenced by Japanese prints and medieval composition 
    -associated with Pre-Raphaelite in similar influence
    -mimic-d japanese printing technique - created a new fashion
-Spenser, Hawthorne’s “Wonder Book” and Grimm’s “Fairy Tales.”
-emulated hand printing tech

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939)
-began steady work at a paper as a reporter and illustrator
-struggled with a style 
-looking to the romantic school of art for inspiration
-1905's Rip Van Winkle marked his "flowering" as the illustrator that is remembered
    -sensuous line
    -gnarled roots, trees
    -hidden drawings
    -ogres
"His drawings would convey a non-threatening yet fearful thrill and a beauty that was in no way overtly sexy or lewd. It was a perfect Victorian solution and he seems to have taken to it with an impish delight."
    -BPIB 
-peak career 1908-1911

Charles Rennie Mackintosh - architect
    -Glasgow school of Art
    -seen as a huge influence on Art Noveau

Kay Nielsen - 
-was influenced from the start by the more "modern" styles of Beardsley, Burne-Jones and the influx of Japanese art that was spreading to the West at this time.
-japanese print influence - composition, color
    -heavy influence of arts and crafts movement - pattern especially
    -Art Nouveau and The Birmingham School influenced him - exemplified by Jessie M. King
   -Birmingham School of Municipal Art -It specialised in the applied arts, and became very influential and renowned for its teaching of             metalwork, jewellery, enamels, design and book illustration. It aimed to raise the general level of commercial design in the country, and as         well as artists, the student population included designers, artisans, builders and architects.

Edmund Dulac-1882-1953
-only Kay Nielsen was younger - generation of N.C. Wyeth, Joseph Clement Coll
-began his career just at the beginning of consolidated-tipped in- printing techniques
-around 1913, style shifts to a more "oriental" approach