Illustration Archives – Page 2 of 28

Beatrix Potter: 1866-1943

July 28, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Born on July 28, 1866 in South Kensington in London, England, Beatrix Potter is best known for her illustrated children’s books. She was an author, illustrator, mycologist, farmer, and conservationist. Potter came from a wealthy family and although her father was a barrister, he devoted much of his time to his passions of art and photography. He and Beatrix’s mother Helen were socially active associating with many writers, artists, and politicians.

Potter had a lonely childhood and was educated at home by a governess. By the age of eight, she was filling sketchbooks with drawings of animals and plants and her artistic endeavors were encouraged, especially by her father.

In her teens, Potter spent most of her time studying, and painting and sketching. “Although she got her Art Student’s Certificate for drawing, Beatrix reached the age of 21 having had little real education. Like many adult daughters of the rich, she was appointed ‘household supervisor’ – a role that left her with enough time to indulge her interest in the natural sciences.”

In her 20s, Potter developed into a talented naturalist, made studies of plants and animals at the Cromwell Road museums, and learned how to draw with her eye to a microscope. She began to focus more on drawing and painting and began to earn a small income from her illustrations. She had also begun to write illustrated letters to the children of her former governess, Annie Moore. Peter Rabbit was born in a letter she wrote in September 1893 to Annie’s son, Noel.

Six publishers rejected “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” before Potter decided to publish her own edition of the story. Having seen the edition, publisher Frederick Warne decided to publish Peter Rabbit, and within a year had to produce six editions to meet demand. “This success marked the start of a life-long relationship between Beatrix and Warne who proposed marriage in 1905. ” Although she accepted him – defying her parents, who saw that being a ‘trade’, a publisher was an unthinkable match for their daughter – Norman unexpectedly died less than a month later of a blood disorder.”

Potter continued writing and produced one or two new books each year for the next eight years. In 1909, she met and befriended a local solicitor, William Heelis. After a period of having to battle her parents’ objections to her relationship Beatrix married William in 1913.

After her marriage, Potter dedicated herself to the role of lady farmer and became an expert in breeding Herdwick sheep. From 1920, and due to failing eyesight, Potter did less and less creative work and her books had to be pieced together from sketches and drawings done years earlier. Her last major work, “The Tale of Little Pig Robinson”, was published in 1930.

In the final part of her life, Potter concentrated on her other passion – conservation which was inspired by her friendship with Canon Rawnsley, one of the founder members of the National Trust. “Her expanding estate, funded by revenue from book sales, gave her the opportunity to fulfil an ambition to preserve not only part of the Lake District’s unique landscape but the area’s traditional farming methods.”

Beatrix Potter died on December 22, 1943. She left 14 farms and over 4,000 acres to the National Trust, land that it still owns and protects against development today.

She wrote and illustrated a total of 28 books, including the 23 Tales, the ‘little books’ that have been translated into more than 35 languages and have sold over 100 million copies. Her stories have been retold in various formats including a ballet, films, and in animation.

Sources: V&A Museum, BibliOdyssey

Beatrix Potter’s love of animals may have meant that she would have appreciated this little pair of owls.

Alphonse Mucha: 1860-1939

July 24, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Alphonse Maria Mucha was born on July 24, 1860 in Ivančice, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) and is known for his prominent role in shaping French Art Nouveau. Mucha loved art as a child but studied on a choral scholarship at the Church of St Peter in Brno, the capital of Moravia. In 1875, Mucha returned to Ivančice where he worked as a court clerk.

After his rejection from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in 1878, Mucha traveled to Vienna to work as a scene painter for the firm of Kautsky-Brioschi-Burghardt. In 1881, he left Vienna and moved to Mikulov (Moravia) where he paintied portraits. It was there that he met Count Khuen Belasi who commissioned him to decorate his castle at Emmahof and where the Count’s brother became his patron, enabling him to study at the Munich Academy of Art in 1885 and at the Acadamie Julian and the Academie Colarossi in Paris from 1887 to 1889.

Between 1890 and 1896, Mucha lived in a studio above Madame Charlotte’s cremerie and began illustrating for the theatre magazine “Le Costume au Theatre”. He met Paul Gauguin (who later shared his studio), and also began working for publisher Armand Colin. In 1894, Mucha designed a poster for actress Sarah Bernhardt for the play “Gismonda” which led to a five-year contract to create more posters and stage and costume designs for her, as well as designs for magazines, book covers, jewellery and furniture for others.

Mucha’s illustrations are characterized by their mosaic backgrounds and influenced by Byzantine art. In contrast with poster makers of the time, he used paler pastel colours. His romantic female figures wear garments that are decorated with precious gems and are often flamboyantly posed and surrounded by lush flowers.

Mucha moved to a new studio in 1896 at rue du Val-de-Grace and his decorative panels “Les Saisons” were published by the Champenois firm, who he would sign an exclusive contract with around 1897. Between 1897 and 1899, he had several solo exhibitions including shows at the Bodiniere Gallery and the Salon des Cent, in Paris, and the Topic Gallery in Prague. As well, Mucha participated in the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession.

From 1904 to 1910, Mucha traveled and lived in America, visiting New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philidelphia. While there, he painted society portraits and met Charles Crane, who would later sponsor his work on the Slav Epic project. From 1905 to 1907, he worked on commissions and taught at art schools in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. In June 1906, he married Maruška Chytilová (a former art student in Prague), with whom he had daughter Jaroslava, and son Jiri.

Mucha, Maruška, and their daughter returned to Prague in 1910 where he would spend the next 18 years working on his Slav Epic project – a series of twenty paintings depicting the history of the Slav people. In 1928, the completed series was officially presented to the Czech people and the City of Prague and was shown at the city’s Trade Fair Palace. In 1931, Mucha was commissioned to design a stained glass window for the St. Vitus Cathedral, in Prague, donated by the Slavia Bank.

With the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo. He was questioned and eventually released, but having suffered from pneumonia in the Autumn of 1938, his health was weakened by the ordeal. Alphonse Mucha died on July 14, 1939 and is buried at Vysehrad cemetery. Over 100,000 Czechs attended the funeral despite the Nazi ban.

Sources: Mucha Foundation, Mucha Museum, Wikipedia

Fourth of July: Saturday Evening Post Covers

July 4, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Happy Fourth of July to all of our American friends and fans! In honour of this day, DAF presents a collection of Fourth of July covers from one of America’s most enduring magazines – The Saturday Evening Post. Most of these images were created by J.C. Leyendecker but there are a few others, including the very first Fourth of July themed covers by Guernsey Moore in 1900 and J.J. Gould in 1903. The magazine seems to have abandoned the idea after 1953 except for the most recent cover by Eric Bowman in 2009.

Have a great holiday everyone!

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Uncle Sam Sawing Wood 1932

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Town Crier 1925

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker 1920

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Running Redcoat 1930

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Ringing Liberty Bell 1935

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Statue of Liberty 1934

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Uncle Sam at the Helm July 4, 1936

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Minute Man 1929

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker Fourth of July Parade 1933

: Saturday Evening Post – J.C. Leyendecker 1928

Source: Saturday Evening Post

Maurice Sendak: 1928 – 2012

June 10, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Maurice Bernard Sendak was born on June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents. He was often sick as a child and spent much of his time indoors where reading was a major pastime. It was during this time that he began drawing, a passion that continued throughout high school. Shortly after graduating, Sendak published a number of illustrations in the textbook “Atomics for the Millions”.

Sendak began working for FAO Schwartz as a window dresser in 1948 and took night classes at the New York Art Students League. Four years later, he left Schwartz to become a full-time freelance children’s book illustrator.

By the early 1960’s, Sendak had gained recognition as one of the more interesting and expressive illustrators in the business. Where The Wild Things Are, published in 1963, brought him international acclaim and became a favourite among children around the world.

Over the course of his career, Sendak has created dozens of popular children’s books including “In The Night Kitchen”. Published in 1970, the book has been censored often for its drawings of a young boy dancing naked through the story.

Sendak has won numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal for “Where the Wild Things Are”, the Hans Christian Andersen Award for children’s book illustration, the National Book Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and others.

As well as his work as a writer and illustrator of children’s books, Sendak has produced both operas and ballets for television and the stage.

According to Harper Collins Rosenbach Museum & Library, “Where The Wild Things Are” has sold over 19 million copies worldwide (2008). A large collection of his work is housed at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia. His collection of approximately 10,000 works of art, and manuscripts, and books have been the subject of numerous exhibitions at the Rosenbach. In 2009, Where the Wild Things Are became a major motion picture directed by Spike Jonze and written by Jonze and Dave Eggers.

Sendak died in the morning of May 8, 2012, in Connecticut, after complications from a stroke.

The New York Times‘ obituary called Sendak “the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century.” Author Neil Gaiman remarked, “He was unique, grumpy, brilliant, gay, wise, magical and made the world better by creating art in it.” Sendak’s final book, Bumble-Ardy, was published eight months prior to his death. A posthumous picture book is scheduled for publication in February 2013.

For more information, visit the sources links below.

Sources: PBS-American Masters, Wikipedia-Sendak, Wikipedia-Where The Wild Things Are

DAF Group Feature: Vol. 159

June 9, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of nine contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the PBS video I Could Do That and the artwork of Sophie Favre, Mazatl, Lois Greenfield, Kristin Vestgard, Joe-Sorren, Jeannie Lynn Paske & Simone Prudente, Greg Craola Simkins, and Andrea Mazzoli.

Visit the Submissions page for information on how to have your art featured in the Weekly Mixx.

J. C. Leyendecker: 1874-1951

March 23, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Born on March 23, 1874, in Montabour, Germany, Joseph Christian Leyendecker was America’s most popular and successful commercial artist in the early decades of the 20th century.

In 1882, the Leyendecker family immigrated to Chicago, Illinois where his mother’s uncle had founded the McAvoy Brewing Company. After studying drawing and anatomy under John H. Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, J. C. and his brother Frank traveled to Paris where they studied at the Académie Julian. During this time they were exposed to the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, Alfons Mucha, and the French Art Nouveau movement. The brother’s returned to America in 1899 and in that same year, J.C. received his first commission for a Saturday Evening Post cover. It was the first of over 320 covers he would create for the Post, as well as many advertisement illustrations for the magazine’s interior pages. Leyendecker’s most well known work for the post was the New Year’s Baby. For close to forty years, the Post featured a Leyendecker Baby on its New Year’s covers.

Leyendecker also made a name for himself through his illustrations for the Arrow brand of detachable shirt collars. Leyendecker created his “Arrow Collar Man”, a handsome, smartly dressed man who became the “symbol of fashionable American manhood.” Charles A. Beach was the original Arrow Collar model. Beach was Leyendecker’s assistant, business agent, and companion – a relationship that lasted nearly 50 years.

As well, Leyendecker designed posters for the World War I and World War II efforts that inspired many Americans to support the cause. His sports posters which often promoted Ivy League football, baseball and crew teams, were widely collected by college students.

Leyendecker also created advertisements for The House of Kuppenheimer, Ivory Soap, and Kelloggs, as well as covers for other magazines including Collier’s and Success.

Leyendecker reached the height of his fame in the 1930’s. “His popularity grew from his ability to establish a specific and readily identifiable signature style. With his very wide, deliberate stroke done with authority and control, he seldom overpainted, preferring to interest the viewer with the omissions as well as the parts included. Leyendecker’s approach to his career influenced the art of illustration and he became a mentor to an entire generation of younger artists, most notably Norman Rockwell, who began his career by emulating Leyendecker.”

By the end of the 1930s, Leyendecker’s grew less popular. He painted his last cover for the Post shortly after the U.S.A entered World War II. “Though few today recognize the name Leyendecker, his work was some of the most popular of its day, owing to his ability to convey the essence of both everyday life in America and international events through paintings that reflected his unique sense of drama, romanticism and humor.”

J. C. Leyendecker died of a heart attack on July 25, 1951. He is buried alongside his parents and brother Frank at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York.

Sources: Wikipedia, National Museum of American Illustration, The Haggin Museum,

International Women’s Day 2016 – Women in the Visual Arts

March 8, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

In honour of International Women’s Day this year, we bring you a visual selection of women artists that have appeared on Daily Art Fixx over the last seven years. Enjoy! Click on an image to open the gallery.