His Students

Home , Alice Barber Stephens, Brandywine School, Charles Dana Gibson, Charlotte Harding, Edward Penfield, Elizabeth Shippen Green

Howard Pyle and His Students

Jay G. Williams 2014

According to legend, there lived in ancient times a virgin by the name of Gwenfrewi, who was desired in marriage by Caradog, a prince of Cymru. His request refused, he attempted to carry her off by force. Gwenfrewi fled, pursued by the prince, who in a great rage struck off her head, which bounded down the hill into a vale to a church, and on the spot where it rested a spring of amazing capacity bubbled forth. Gwenfrewi’s uncle, St. Beuno, who was officiating in the church, rushed out, replaced the severed head, and with prayer, restored the virgin to life. Thus was Gwenfrewi Santes born.

Howard Pyle and his students

Jay G. Williams

2014 Gwenfrewi Santes Press “Whereever the head rolls.”

Howard Pyle

Preface

No history of illustration in America could be complete without a discussion of the work of Howard Pyle and his students. Although he was certainly not, as some say, “The Father of American Illustration,” for there were many great illustrators who preceded him, he was clearly instrumental in making the “Golden Age of Illustration” more golden. Most notably, it was Pyle, more than anyone else, who encouraged women to enter the field. As we shall see, many of the most notable women illustrators were his pupils.

Basic facts about Pyle and his students are easy to come by for the Web, particularly Wikipedia, provides that information without difficulty. Walt Reed also provides information in his The Illustrator in America: 1860-2000. Susan E. Meyer’s book, America’s Great Illustrators, gives even more information about some illustrator-artists, while a work such as Henry C. Pitz’s Howard Pyle, Writer, Illustrator, and Founder of the Brandywine School provides a wealth of information not found elsewhere.

This book in no way intends to compete with Pitz’s work. The aim is not to provide more information but rather to offer again the opportunity to look at the pictures themselves, for it is in them that the artist’s creativity and skill are exemplified and his or her message conveyed.

All the pictures in this book are taken from my own collection that includes illustrations from 1859 until 1923 when copyright laws begin to apply. This collection, though quite large, does not, indeed could not, contain all the pictures that any artist has offered to the public. Moreover, I have only been able to use a small fraction of the collection. For each of his pupils who is discussed herein, for instance, I have limited the number of pictures to three or four, though in one instance I have included five. The idea is not to provide complete coverage but to offer a chance to hear each artist speak. In other words, this is an invitation to ponder and study and not just leaf through.

There are no chapters in this book, but the first half is about Pyle and the second half about his pupils. The table of contents simply indicates where each of the pupils is discussed. So, enjoy and ponder. For the most part I do not provide interpretation. That is the task of the reader.

Jay G. Williams

Table of Contents

Part I Howard Pyle 1

Part II: His Students

Stanley Massey Arthurs 61 William James Aylward 66 Anna Whelan Betts 71 Elizabeth Shippen Green 75 Charlotte Harding (Brown) 79 Thornton Oakley 84 Violet Oakley 87 Maxfield Parrish 91 Ernest Peixotto 96 Frank Earle Schoonover 101 Jessie Willcox Smith 106 Alice Barber Stephens 111 Sarah S. Stilwell Weber 116 N. C. Wyeth 120

Conclusions 126

Part I: Howard Pyle

Howard Pyle was born on March 5, 1853 not far from Wilmington, Delaware. His family had lived in the area for several generations and were a part of the rather large Quaker community there. His home, on the old Kennett Pike (now called Pennsylvania Avenue), was in the country and he grew up surrounded by lawns, orchards, flowerbeds, and beautiful scenery. After a few years, however, his father’s leather business had difficulties and they moved to somewhat smaller quarters closer to Wilmington.

During the Civil War that began when he was eight, he saw much activity in the harbor and troops marching south to engage in the war. Since Quakers are usually pacifists, it is doubtful that many of his relatives participated in the war, but the excitement of the war surrounded him as he grew up. It is interesting that he concentrates in his illustrations on the Revolutionary and not the Civil War.

Although Pyle, as a young child, loved to draw and to read children’s books, he was not a very promising student. In fact, it became clear that he would not get into college anywhere with his school record. So, at age sixteen, he was enrolled in a small art school in Philadelphia presided over by an Antwerp trained art teacher named Van der Wellen. Aside from a few sporadic classes later at the Art Student’s League in New York City, Pyle’s three years with Mr. Van Wellen gave the only art training he ever received. He did not even like what he learned, for, as he was to say, it trained him to be a copyist but not a creator.

Certainly, at the art school he learned little that would impel him to become a writer and creator of a wide variety of books for both children and adults. One must conclude that his natural talents were stimulated, not by classes in school, but by his own reading from his mother’s library of illustrated books. This fact seems to have been behind his essential attitude toward his own teaching. That is, he believed that art education must “educe” rather than just “train.” What is most important, he emphasized, is the development of one’s own creativity rather than copying what the teacher thinks is good.

After leaving the art school at age 19, he worked for a while in his father’s leather business. In 1876, however, he and his father took a trip to visit the Chincoteague Islands off the coast of Virginia. As a result, he wrote an illustrated article about the islands and their wild horses that he submitted to Scribner’s Monthly Magazine. The article was accepted and published in April. 1877. The editor also urged Pyle to move to New York to be closer to the places of publication. This he did and very soon became part of the world of illustration.

Here are some of the illustrations he used in his initial article.

April, 1877 Scribner’s Monthly

The world of illustration and illustrators was already large and many-sided. Here is a list of illustrators with whom Pyle might have come in contact. Younger illustrators will be listed later.

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATORS

1820s 1828 Alfred Waud 1891 1828 Henri Lovie ?

1830s 1830 Frank Vizetelly 1883 1830 Granville Perkins 1895 1832 William Waud 1878 1833 Sol Eytinge 1905 1833 W. L. Sheppard 1912 1834 Francis Schell 1909 1834 Thomas Worth 1917 1834 George De Maurier 1896 1838 Winslow Homer 1910 1838 Walter Shirlaw 1909 1839 Edwin Forbes 1895 1839 Matt Morgan 1890

1840s 1840 Thomas Nast 1902 1840 Theodore Davis 1894 1840 Paul Frenzeny 1902 1842 Frederick S. Church 1924 1844 C. S. Reinhardt 1896 1845 Harry Fenn 1911 1847 F. Farny 1916 1847 Mary Hallock Foote 1938 1848 Thure de Thulstrup 1930 1849 Rufus Zogbaum 1925

1850s 1851 A. B. Frost 1928 1852 Edwin Abbey 1911 1852 Charles Graham 1911 1853 J. O. Davidson 1894 1853 Milton Burns 1933 1853 Jean Geoffroy 1924

6 1853 L. Marchetti 1909 1854 William A. Rogers 1931 1854 George Innis II 1926 1855 Charles Dater Weldon 1935 1855 William Hatherell 1928 1856 Bernhardt Gillam 1896 1856 Reginald Birch 1943 1857 Joseph Pennell 1928 1858 William T. Smedley 1920 1858 Alice Barber Stephens 1932 1858? Victor Gillam 1920 1858 Willard Leroy Metcalf 1925 1859 B. West Cliendiest 1931 1859 Childe Hassam 1935 1859 Charles J. Budd 1926

In June of 1878, Pyle offered another set of illustrations, this time as silhouettes. This work is somewhat reminiscent of Winslow Homer’s illustrations for Lowell’s Courtin’ published four years earlier.

As the year went on, it became very clear that Pyle was already a part of the complex world of illustration centered in New York. He became friends with such stalwarts as A. B. Frost, Frederick S. Church, and Edwin Abbey. Not only Scribner’s but Harper’s also saw signs of real artistry in his work and offered him assignments. He was on his way. Nevertheless, after a very few years he decided to leave New York and return to Wilmington. He never regretted the move.

In fact, not long after his return to Delaware, he married Anne Poole. Together they had seven children and a very happy life. He opened a studio and began producing prodigious numbers of illustrations, articles, and books.

Here are some of the pictures that he did during the remainder of the seventh and beginning of the eighth decade of the 19th Century. It was the age of wood engraving as the pictures show.

April 6, 1878 Harper’s Weekly

July 18, 1878 Harper’s Weekly One of his great loves was to illustrate poetry.

August 16, 1879 Harper’s Weekly

January 19, 1880 Harper’s Weekly

June, 1880 Harper’s Monthly

One of Pyle’s great loves was American history, particularly the time of the Revolutionary War. In this picture and many more to follow he demonstrates his ability to depict those times with great accuracy.

November 13, 1880 Harper’s Weekly

January 8, 1881 Harper’s Weekly

February 26, 1881 Harper’s Weekly

March 12, 1881 Harper’s Weekly

March 17, 1883 Harper’s Weekly Harper’s sent Pyle to Pennsylvania to write an article on the Dunkers. This picture is one of the results of the trip.

The mid 1880’s were marked by radical new developments for Pyle. In 1883 he published The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, a book that remains in print to this day. That was followed by twenty-three more books for both children and adults. Here are a few illustrations from his first book.

23 Along with his children’s books he also published more stories in children’s magazines such as St. Nicholas and Harper’s Young People. Here are some examples of his work in these magazines.

December 30, 1884 Harper’s Young People

December 28, 1886 Harper’s Young People

27 Many things changed during the late 1880s. Some magazines went out of business; others were introduced. Scribner’s Monthly became Century. In the 1870s virtually all illustrations were produced by wood engraving. Then half-tone engraving was introduced and the old wood engraving was virtually eliminated. Here is an example of a half-tone print prepared by Pyle in 1891.

December 1891 Harper’s Monthly

Here are more examples of Pyle’s work from the 1890s

February, 1892 Harper’s Monthly

February 1895 Harper’s Monthly

32 Then, in 1899 still another great step forward was taken. Color was introduced.

December, 1899 Harper’s Monthly

33 Pictures in color were still much more expensive so many half-tones, like the one below, were still printed.

. December 1897 Harper’s Monthly

34 The 1890s were very busy years for Pyle. In 1892 alone, for instance, he published 150 illustrations. He had become known as one of America’s great illustrators and many magazines wanted his work. Moreover, in 1894 he began teaching at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. His course was not the usual art course, but directly concentrated upon the art of illustration. He was a very articulate and distinguished teacher and students flocked to his classes. The problem was that there were simply too many students for him to offer the kind of course he wanted to give. Thirty-nine enrollees meant that in the few brief hours that he taught, he could not give the personalized attention that he felt most important to offer.

He tried a number of experiments to solve the problem. In 1898 he began teaching a limited number (10) from his Drexel classes in the summer at Chadds Ford. This provided a much better possibility for personal instruction. It was at Chadds Ford that many of the next generation of American illustrators, both male and female, were trained. The result, however, was that by 1900 Pyle resigned from his position at Drexel Institute to open his own, tuition free institute in Wilmington.

Throughout his career as a teacher, he emphasized that creativity is the watchword. Most artistic education at the time tended to teach how to copy, but did little to promote genuine creativity. His aim was to get students to see, think, and draw creatively. For Pyle creativity was also akin to spirituality. His parents, though born Quakers, had gone a few times to a Swedenborgian church. Their attendance there meant that they were eventually dismissed from the Quaker Meeting. Throughout his life, Pyle retained his interest in the teachings of Swedenborg. Often, while he was painting, one of his assistants would read to him from one of the works by Swedenborg. Among the illustrations to follow is an article called “The Travels of the Soul” published in Century Magazine that hints at his great interest in that mystical tradition.

In this next section are contained just a few representative pictures, drawn largely from Harper’s Monthly. It should be emphasized, however, that he published articles and illustrations in many magazines including Century, McClure’s, Scribner’s, Colliers, and many other periodicals. For a short period of time in 1906 he even served as art editor of McClure’s Magazine.

April, 1900 Harper’s Monthly

June 1901 Harper’s Monthly

Dec. 1902 “The travels of the soul” Century

June 1903 Harper’s Monthly

August 1904 Harper’s Monthly

April 1907 Harper’s Monthly

May 1907 Harper’s Monthly

September 1909 Harper’s Monthly

October 1909 Harper’s Monthly

Howard Pyle was not a traveler at all. Harpers once asked him to do a story about something in Texas, but he refused to go. Many artists spent a great deal of time studying and traveling in Europe. Some, like John Lafarge, spent many months in Japan. Pyle traveled almost nowhere except to Philadelphia or perhaps New York City. Nevertheless, in November of 1910, the Pyle family crossed the Atlantic to Italy. Howard wanted, among other things, to look at the old masters. It may also well be that he was simply tired out and need a change in scenery to recoup. It was meant to be a glorious occasion, but it did not turn out that way.

Pyle became ill on the way over and, though he felt somewhat better at times, never quite recovered. Eventually, he was diagnosed as having Bright’s disease and after many days of suffering in 1911 died. He is buried in a cemetery near Florence, Italy. Harpers kept publishing his backlog of illustrations for sometime but the great artist had succumbed at the age of 58.

Here are two of his pictures published in 1911 while he was away in Italy.

November, 1911 Harper’s Monthl

November 1911 Harper’s Monthly

61 Part II

Pyle, of course, is well known and admired for his art. He not only painted scenes from America’s past; he studied deeply the history and customs of colonial America so that his pictures were accurate in all their details. When writing stories about Robin Hood and other medieval characters, he adopted a very medieval style. He could also produce pictures that were dream-like and quite “unrealistic.”

Although many of his pictures are extraordinary and his books wonderfully imaginative, in some ways his greatest accomplishment was neither his writing nor his drawing but his teaching. Henry C. Pitz in his book Howard Pyle gives us a list of his 81 students.1 It is interesting that twenty of the students who studied with him apparently did not go on for a career in art. At least they are not listed in Who Was Who in American Art: 1565-1975, a work that seems to include about everyone connected with art during that period. Another twenty did go on in the art field but did not do much illustration. Some became teachers, many painters, a few sculptors.

That still leaves forty-one of his students who did contribute to the field of illustration. Of these forty-one I would like to emphasize fourteen of those artists who were particularly well known for their creativity and their contribution to the field of magazine illustration. It is note-worthy, I think, that of these fourteen, seven are women and these seven were probably the most important female illustrators of that era. Up until that time there were very, very few women contributing to the world of illustration. There was, to be sure, Mary Hallock Foote who broke the sexual barrier to offer pictures and stories about the old West. But there were very few others until Pyle welcomed women into his classes and encouraged them to enter the field.

In any event, since the fourteen will be listed alphabetically, we will begin with one of Pyle’s right-hand men, Stanley M. Arthurs.

Stanley Massey Arthurs was born in 1877 In Kenton, Delaware. During the 1890s he studied at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle and became one of his “selected students.” That is to say, he received special education with the other selected students in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. It was there that he became friends with Frank Schoonover who, like Arthurs, became Pyle’s special assistant. After the death of their teacher, Arthurs was to take over his studio and continue the Pyle tradition for many years.

After creating several murals, writing several books, and publishing a large number of illustrations, Arthurs died in 1950.

Like Pyle, Arthurs created many pictures depicting American history. He too worked very hard to be accurate in every detail.

1 Henry C, Pitz, Howard Pyle (New York: Bramhall House, 1965) p.228.

August 1915 Scribner’s Magazine

September 1904 Scribner’s Magazine

64 Like Pyle he also created depictions of Arthurian legends. Here he depicts Modred, the great enemy of King Arthur.

June 1906 Harper’s Monthly

65 Like many other illustrators, he even did a few advertisements.

July 31, 1909 Collier’s

66 William James Aylward is another student who attended summer sessions at Chadds Ford. Unlike Pyle and most of his other students, Aylward devoted his artistic life to ships and the sea. He was born in 1875 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but lived much of his early life in Port Washington, New York. It is from there that he went to study in Philadelphia and then at Chadds Ford.

Many of his illustrations were actually created first as paintings. He exhibited quite widely and won several prizes. During World War I he was the official artist for the United States Navy.

From 1930 until 1934 he taught at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Then in 1936 he was hired to teach at the School of Fine and Industrial Arts. He was author of Ships and How to Draw Them. He also illustrated Jules Verne’s 2000 Leagues Under the Sea.

He died in 1956 in Bath, New York.

September 1909 Harper’s Monthly

May 1912 Harper’s Monthly

August 1913 Harper’s Monthly

1911 Collier’s

71 Anna Whelan Betts was born in 1875. She began her study of art in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Like many other students of art at the time, she then travelled to Paris where she studied with Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois. It was only after this considerable preparation that she also became a pupil of Howard Pyle. It is not surprising, then, that her style is somewhat different from his. Her works are very feminine and depict a very romantic view of Victorian Age.

During her career as an illustrator she published in Century Magazine, Harper’s Monthly, and many other magazines. Unfortunately in the 1920s he eyesight began to fail and she stopped illustrating entirely. Instead she became director and teacher of art at a small boy’s school called Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania. In 1944, she retired from teaching. She died in 1952.

April 1904 Century

May 1901 Ladies’ Home Journal

August 1904 Century

October 1904 Century

75 Elizabeth Shippen Green was born in Philadelphia in 1871. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and studied with Thomas Eakins, Robert Vonnoh, and Thomas Anshutz. So, she already had considerable training when, in 1894, she began to study with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute and became one of those special students chosen to study at Chadds Ford. Her experience with Pyle was life-altering, not only because of his teaching but because she met there Jessie Willcox Smith and Violet Oakley. The three lived together and when they bought an old Inn to live in that they named the Red Rose Inn, they became known as the Red Rose girls.

All three of them turned out to be very accomplished artists and illustrators. They originally planned to live together “forever,” but Elizabeth fell in love, was married in 1911, and moved to Rhode Island. Smith and Oakley found someone else to share their life together, but it was never quite the same without Elizabeth.

Before her marriage Green had already established a name for herself on the staff of Harper’s Monthly. If one glances through issues of the magazine from 1902 until 1911, one can hardly miss examples of her work. Like the other feminine illustrators she often depicts mothers and children but she also, like Pyle, depicts medieval times and historical events in America. Some, like the first picture below, express sorrow and inner emotion.

August 1904 Harper’s Monthly

December 1908 Harper’s Monthly

December 1906 Harper’s Monthly

September 1907 Harper’s Monthly

After a very rich a fruitful life, she died in Philadelphia in1951.

79 Charlotte Harding was born on August 31, 1873 in Newark, New Jersey. The family moved to Philadelphia in 1880 and she was educated in public schools there. In 1893-4 she studied with Robert Henri at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women where she won prizes and awards and for a time served as an instructor at the school. In 1894-5 she also enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle. Pyle soon identified her as one of his promising students. She continued to study with him until 1900.

Then, with another, but much older Pyle student, Alice Barber Stevens, she set up a studio and began to produce a great number of illustrations for a variety of magazines. She also illustrated at least twelve books.

In 1905 she married James Adam Brown, an engineer, but continued to use her maiden name when signing her works. They had one child, Charlotte Adams Brown.

Although she was highly successful and considered a major contributor to the Golden Age of Illustration, she ceased illustration in 1917. In fact, she burned her collection of drawings that she had created and never published again.

November, 1901 Century

August 15, 1903 Collier’s

This is a picture on the cover of the magazine

August 1904 Harper’s Monthly

November, 1901 Century

84 Thornton Oakley was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 27, 1881. He went to Shady Side Academy where he was recognized for his artistic ability and then to the University of Pennsylvania where he received B.S. (1901) and M.S. (1902) degrees in architecture. Therefore, although he doubtless was trained in mechanical drawing, he came to Howard Pyle with much less training in creative art than most of his other students. By Oakley’s own admission his first creations were pretty bad.

Nevertheless, he studied with Pyle for three years and became quite a well-known and popular illustrator for a variety of magazines. Eventually he headed the department of illustration at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts. In 1914-15 he taught drawing at the University of Pennsylvania. He lectured widely and also illustrated a number of travel books written by his wife.

He died on April7, 1953.

July 1906 Harper’s Monthly

August, 1906 Harper’s Monthly

June 1909 Harper’s Monthly

Violet Oakley was born in 1874 in Bergen Heights, New Jersey. Like many of her colleagues, she studied quite widely before becoming Pyle’s student. In 1894 she attended the Art Students League and worked with J. C. Beckwith and Irving Wiles. Then it was on to Paris, France where she enrolled at the Académie Montparnasse with Aman-Jean and Raphael Colin in 1895. That summer she moved to Sussex, England to study with Charles La Sar. In 1896 she returned to America and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with J. Decamp and C. Beaux and at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle.

It was in Pyle’s classes that she met Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Willcox Smith and became one of the Red Rose girls who lived and worked together for a number of years. They eventually moved from the old Red Rose Inn to a new home they named Cogslea. Green got married and left but she was replaced by another female artist. Although Violet Oakley did create several illustrations, her major interest involved mural painting. In fact, she was the first woman to be offered a major contract as a muralist. Among several other murals, she created a major one of William Penn at the Pennsylvania State House.

Oakley, though an Episcopalian, was very influenced by Penn and the Quakers and that led her to support the League of Nations and then, after 1927, to support the cause of world peace. She came to devote most of her time to that cause.

She died in 1960 after a long and fruitful life.

December, 1903 Harper’s Monthly

April 1903 Harper’s Monthly

December 1904 Harper’s Monthly

91 Maxfield (named originally Frederick) Parrish was born on July 25, 1870, the son of an engraver and painter. He studied at Haverford College, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle. He began his work of illustration quite early so that by 1898 he well enough off to buy land for a house. Unlike so many other artists, he chose not to live near New York or some other large city but preferred to separate himself from the commercial world by living in New Hampshire. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why his style is invariably unusual and unique.

He became known as a book illustrator (L. Frank Baum’s Mother Goose, 1897; Kenneth Grahame, The Golden Age, 1899; Eugene Fields, Poems of Childhood, 1904; Arabian Knights, 1909; A Wonder Book of Tanglewood Tales, 1910; The Knave of Hearts, 1925.) He also did much work for Collier’s, Scribner’s. and several other periodicals. His first pictures were, of course, in black and white but when color illustration became possible he became known for his vivid blues and unusual color combinations. In the 1920s he also became known for his many advertisement pictures for companies such as Edison Mazda lamps.

In the late 1920’s he turned from illustration almost entirely and spent the rest of his life painting landscapes. He died in 1966.

Like Ernest Peixotto, who we will discuss next, Maxfield Parrish did many pictures of buildings and scenes in both black and color. The first picture is an example of his “scenic” pictures.

Unlike Peixotto, however, he also transcended the ordinary visual world to enter “dreamland” as the second picture shows.

Sometimes such a dreamland is pleasant, sometimes dangerous as his picture of a siren shows.

Somehow the dreamland of the human unconscious and the practical world of what we call reality reunite in his advertisement art.

October 1904 Century Magazine

1899 Illustration for The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame

August 1901 Scribner’s Magazine

April 1921 Ladies’ Home Journal

96 Ernest Peixotto was born on October 15, 1869 in San Francisco. California. He studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art with Emil Carlsen who eventually encouraged him to study in France. In 1888 he did travel to France where he studied at the Académie Julian under several notable teachers. He also became acquainted with a number of American impressionists---in particular Theodore Robinson--- also studying abroad.

After spending six years in France he returned in 1894, moved to New York City and joined the staff of Scribner’s Magazine. His specialty as an illustrator was pen and ink drawings of notable buildings and landscapes. A few of these will be shown here. As publishing methods changed, however, more writers and editors wanted illustrations to be in half-tone. He also came to realize that he needed help with his depiction of people. So, although he was already a well-established illustrator he went to Pyle for help.

That relationship did not last long. In 1897 he married and the couple moved back to France, to Fontainebleau, where he stayed for six more years. There he illustrated Theodore Roosevelt’s The Life of Oliver Cromwell and began a career as a mural painter.

During World War I he served as captain in the U.S. Corps of engineers. After the war he became director of the U.S. Army’s art-training center that, in 1923, became the Ecole des Beaux-arts. At the same time he also served as director of the mural art department of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York city.

He won many honors and served in several art organizations. He died on December 6, 1940.

August 1900 Scribner’s Magazine

February 1903 Harper’s Monthly

100

May 1900 Scribner’s Magazine

101 Frank Earle Schoonover was born on August 19, 1877 in Oxford, New Jersey but he lived his early life in Trenton, N.J. where he went to school. Many summer days, however, were spent with his grandmother in the country. He came to love the world of nature and the out-of-doors. The first picture below expresses that feeling.

That also led him to be concerned about what humans are doing to nature and to the corruption of natural world. This concern is expressed quite powerfully in the second picture that depicts slag dumping.

After high school he began his study at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle. He was chosen as one of the few outstanding students to study at Chadds Ford in the summer. There, along with Stanley Arthurs, he became Pyle’s special aide and right-hand man. It is not surprising then that he absorbed from Pyle not only how to draw but what to draw. Many of his pictures, like the third one below concern American history during the colonial period. He, like Pyle, also liked to depict pirates and dark stories of the sea (see the fourth picture).

Even while studying with Pyle, Schoonover began publishing in a great variety of journals. He also illustrated during his career more than 200 books. He helped to organize the Delaware Art Museum and to raise money for the purchase of paintings by Pyle. In 1942 he started his own art school in Wilmington, Delaware that lasted for 25 years. In 1968 his career was ended by a series of strokes that left him paralyzed. He died on September 1, 1972 at the age of 94.

102

February 1912 Harper’s Monthly

103

May 1907 McClure’s Magazine

104

July 1909 Harper’s Monthly

105

December 1911 Harper’s Monthly

106 Jessie Willcox Smith, the third of the Red Rose Girls, was, in fact, the oldest of the three for she was born on September 6, 1863. Her father was an investment banker and the family was reasonably well off. They lived in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia and Jessie was enrolled in a private school. At age 16 she was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio to finish her education.

Her plan was to become a kindergarten teacher, but when she took a job as one in 1883 she discovered that handling the children was physically too much for her. It was then that a cousin convinced her to try art school. She entered the School of Design for Women in 1884 and then moved on to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. She graduated in 1888 and took a position with The Ladies’ Home Companion. After several years with that magazine she decided she needed more training and enrolled at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle.

It was there, of course, that she met and became good friends with Elizabeth Shippen Green and Violet Oakley and became one of the Red Rose girls. After leaving the Institute she was soon recognized as one of the major artists of the Golden Age of illustration, creating works for numerous different magazines. Since 88% of the subscribers to magazines were women, her pictures of children and their mothers became exceedingly popular. Eventually she became the primary cover artist for Good Housekeeping, producing a new cover for almost every issue.

By the mid-1920s, however, she turned from illustration to portrait painting and her illustrative creations grew fewer and fewer. In 1933 she finally decided to go to Europe accompanied by Elizabeth Shippen Green’s replacement, Henrietta Cozens. On the way, however, she became ill as her health failed her. She returned home, but never fully recovered. She died at the age of 71 in 1933.

107

May 1888 St. Nicholas Magazine

This is a fairly early illustration done right after (or maybe shortly before) her graduation from PAFA. It expresses her great sense of humor as well as her understanding of children.

The next picture is one of her many, many covers. Here the lines are very strong and define the picture. In her later pictures the importance of the line diminishes as is evident in the pictures that follow.

108

June 25, 1904 Collier’s

109

Dec. 11, 1909 Collier’s

110

January 1915 Scribner’s Magazine

111 Alice Barber (Stephens) was older than the other illustrators we have included. She was born on July 1, 1858 on a farm near Salem, New Jersey where she attended local schools. Her family then moved to Philadelphia and at age fifteen she became a student at The Philadelphia School of Design for Women. In 1876 she entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where she studied with Thomas Eakins. Later she studied with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute and at the Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi in Paris, France. She exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1887.

In 1890 she married Charles H. Stephens, an instructor at PAFA, and they had one son who was also an artist. Eventually they had what they named “Thunderbird Lodge” constructed for them where they lived and had their studios.

She became a very well known illustrator who contributed regularly to Scribner’s Harper’s Weekly, and the Ladies’ Home Journal. She also illustrated a significant number of books.

She died at “Thunderbird Lodge” on July 13, 1932 at the age of 74.

We will begin with one of her many illustrations for a children’s magazine, Harper’s Young People. The next three are typical pictures from Harper’s Monthly and McClure’s. It is noteworthy that most of her pictures were in black and white rather than color. Nevertheless, she is very adept at portraying what the social world looked like in the Victorian and then the Edwardian Age. It also is interesting that most of her pictures are not “independent” but are designed to illuminate a story written by someone else. Although children certainly appear in her pictures, she does not overly emphasize them as Jessie Willcox Smith does.

112

August 12, 1890 Harper’s Young People

113

October 1901 Harper’s Monthly

114

August 1906 McClure’s Magazine

115

September 1907 McClure’s Magazine

116 Sarah S. Stilwell Weber was born in 1878 in Philadelphia. She attended Drexel Institute and then Chadds Ford from 1894 until 1900. Since little seems to be written about her, the date of her marriage to Mr. Weber is not readily available. In any event, she became a very popular illustrator, creating many covers for The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s as well as illustrations of children for a variety of magazines. Her pictures of children were so popular that a whole set of dishes with her pictures on them were created and are still for sale on Ebay.

More important perhaps are those covers that combine beauty and an almost mystical nuance. She also illustrated children’s books including The Musical Tree.

She died in 1939.

June 1914 McClure’s Magazine

117

May, 1905 Scribner’s

118

January 18, 1913 Collier’s

119

February 9, 1907 Saturday Evening Post

120 Last, but not least in this procession of Howard Pyle’s pupils is N. (Newell) C. (Convers) Wyeth. Wyeth was born on October 22, 1882 in Needham, Massachusetts into a very old family tracing their ancestry back to Nicholas Wyeth who arrived in America in 1645. His mother was fascinated by books and art and encouraged her son to study art, first at the Mechanics Art School where he learned drafting, then at the Massachusetts Normal Art School and then at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Next he studied at the Eric Pape School of Art where he was taught by George Loftus Noyes, a fairly well known impressionist painter, and Charles W. Reed. Finally, he had two friends who went to study at Drexel Institute. He joined them and became a very enthusiastic student of Howard Pyle in 1902.

In 1904 he was asked by Scribner’s to illustrate an article about the West. Since he had never been to the western part of the United States, Pyle urged him to go there. After a very eventful trip in 1904 he became “hooked” on doing Old West illustrations. This was not surprising, for already it had become not just a national but a worldwide infatuation. Rufus Zogbaum had done many pictures of the West. Frederic Remington had created many, many more. He was followed by Herbert Dunton, Walter Duncan, and several others.

Eventually Wyeth got over his fascination with the West and went on to other things. He was always a realist, however, whether he depicted cattle ranching or ancient warriors or traveling by sea. Very quickly he became one of the most popular illustrators in America.

He also became the father of Andrew Wyeth who attained great fame as an artist and grandfather of Jamie Wyeth who did the same. Indeed the whole family contributed immeasurably to the American art scene.

Eventually N.C. became tired of and began to hate the world of illustration because of its commercialization. For him it became a road he should not have taken. Nevertheless, his contribution to that world was enormous and brought his whole family great fame.

Unfortunately, in 1945 his car stalled on a railroad track in Chadds Ford and he was killed by an oncoming train.

121

March 1906 Scribner’s Magazine

122

August 1906 McClure’s Magazine

123

September 1907 Scribner’s Magazine

124

August 1914 Scribner’s Magazine

125

December 1910 Scribner’s Magazine

126

Conclusions

What can we say about all this? What conclusions can we draw? First, although it is true that Ernest Peixotto came from California and N.C. Wyeth from Massachusetts, most of these students were from “the vicinity” of Philadelphia. Some came from Wilmington, some from New Jersey, but it was not a particularly “national grouping.”

Second, although some like Thornton Oakley and Sarah Stilwell (Weber) received most of their art education from Pyle, many others were well trained before they ever came to Drexel Institute and Chadds Ford. For most of his students, he provided a final polishing, not a basic education in art. Indeed, since Thomas Eakins also emphasized creativity over copying, many of Pyle’s students had been introduced to some of his basic ideas before they ever reached Drexel Institute.

Third, below is a list of illustrators born during the 1860s, 70s, and 80s. Some contributors to magazines and books may have been overlooked and omitted but these are surely the major illustrators.

1860s

1861 E. W. Kemble 1933 1861 Andre Castaigne 1930 1861 Frederic Remington 1909 1862 Peter Newell 1924 1863 Jessie Willcox Smith 1935 1863 Albert Sterner 1946 1863 Arthur Bowen Davies 1928 1863 Oliver Herford 1935 1864 Charles Russell 1926 1864 A. B. Wenzell 1917 1864 Corwin Knapp Linson 1959 1865 Frank V. DuMond 1951 1866 Edward Penfield 1925 1866 Louis Loeb 1909 1866 William Leigh 1955 1866 Otto Lang 1940 1866 William Hurd Lawrence 1938 1866 Henry McCarter 1942 1866 Jukes Guerin 1946 1867 Charles Dana Gibson 1944 1867 Jay Hambidge 1924 1868 Edwin Child 1937 1868 Henry Mayer 1954) 1869 Albert Levering 1929

127 1869 Will Crawford 1944 1869 Charles Hinton 1950 1869 Ernest Peixotto 1940

1870’s

1870 William Glackens 1933 1870 Maxfield Parrish 1966 1870 Eric Pape 1938 1870 Arthur Heming 1940 1870 Emilie Knipe 1958 1870 Walter Granville Smith 1938 1870 H. Richard Boehm 1914 1871 Elizabeth Shippen Green 1954 1871 John Sloan 1951 1871 Clarence Underwood 1928 1871 Henry Reutendahl 1925 1871 Frederic Gruger 1953 1872 George Wright 1951 1872 Elenore P. Abbott 1958 1873 Howard Chandler Christy 1952 1873 W. T. Benda 1941 1873 Thomas Fogarty 1938 1873 Charlotte Harding 1951 1873 Mary Wilson Preston 1949 1873 Frederick Dore Steele 1949 1873 Wallace Morgan 1948 1873 James Preston 1962 1874 J. C. Leydendecker 1951 1874 F. Walter Taylor 1921 1874 E. L. Blumenschein 1960 1874 Frank Craig 1918 1874 Alonzo Kimball 1923 1875 Anna Whelan Betts 1952 1875 Henry Hutt 1950 1875 F. C. Yohn 1933 1875 Otto Schneider 1946 1875 W. T. Aylward 1956 1875 Roland Kirby 1952 1875 John Norval Marchand 1921 1876 F. X. Leyendecker 1924 1876 Walter Appleton Clark 1906 1876 Everett Shinn 1953 1876 R. M. Crosby 1945 1876 Howard Giles 1955 1876 Ernest Haskell 1925

128 1876 William Sherman Potts 1930 1877 Harrison Fisher 1934 1877 James Montgomery Flagg 1960 1877 Frank Schoonover 1971 1877 Stanley Arthurs 1950 1877 Arthur Covey 1960 1878 Sarah Stilwell Weber 1939 1878 Mary Sigsbee Ker 1960 1878 W. Herbert Dunton 1938 1878 Alexander Popini 1962 1879 Charles S. Chapman 1962 1879 F. Graham Cootes 1960 1879 Sigismund Ivanowski 1944 1879 Herman Pfeifer 1931

1880s 1880 T. M. Cleland 1964 1880 Arthur Dove 1946 1880 Edward Potthast II 1941 1880 Will Cotton 1958 1881 Arthur W. Brown 1966 1881 Maginel Wright Enright (Barney) 1966 1882 N.C. Wyeth 1945 1882 George Bellows 1925 1882 Will Foster 1953 1882 George Harding 1959 1882 Edward Hopper 1967 1883 Rube Goldberg 1970 1883 Worth Brehm 1928 1886 Walter Biggs 1968 1886 Henry McCarter 1942 1887 Gayle Hoskins 1962

Students who studied with Pyle are indicated in black type. Clearly his students do form a significant group, but there are many, many others who did not study with him. What is interesting, however, is the sizable percentage of female illustrators who called him teacher, a fact that Henry C. Pitz in his work on Pyle does not emphasize at all. In any event, although Pyle was clearly not the father of American illustration, he was the teacher who probably did most to encourage women to contribute to the world of illustration. It should also be mentioned that, when he did so, women were not even allowed to vote!

Finally we should remember the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Return to view again the pictures that have been created. They will tell you more about both the artist and about life than this conclusion or any conclusion will ever do.

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Jay G. Williams

Dr. Jay G. Williams, Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies (retired) at Hamilton College, holds degrees from Hamilton (A.B.), Union Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Columbia University (Ph.D.). He is the author of several books including: Ten Words of Freedom (1970), Understanding the Old Testament (1972), Yeshua Buddha (1978), Judaism (1980), The Riddle of the Sphinx (1990), A Reassessment of Absolute Skepticism and Religious Faith (1996), The Times and Life of Edward Robinson (1999), The Way of Adam (2002) , The Secret Sayings of Ye Su (2004), The Voyage of Life (2007), The Way and Its Power (2008), Religion: What it has been and what it is (2008), The Stupa, Buddhism in Symbolic Form (2010), How to Determine the Meaning of a Sacred Text (2011) and Thomas Nast, America’s Greatest Political Cartoonist (2014).He has also published three chapbooks of poetry as well as a significant number of scholarly articles, book reviews, and monographs. From his collection of 19th and early 20th Century illustrations he has mounted several exhibitions featuring works by Thomas Nast, Winslow Homer, Frederick Remington, and several others.