Tag Archives: Illustration

Patience, young grasshopper! (Animals in Art)

Posted in Animals in Art by

How narrow is the vision that exalts the busyness of the ant above the singing of the grasshopper.
~Sand and Foam by Kahlil Gibran http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500611h.html

Because grasshoppers have such powerful jumping legs, people sometimes don’t realize that they also have wings. Grasshoppers use their jumping ability to give them a boost into the air but most are pretty strong fliers and make good use of their wings to escape predators.
~FROM https://www.thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-grasshoppers-1968334

Clicking on the embedded links below will take you to larger images of these works:

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1. Sculpture of a Grasshopper, Mexico, 1300 / Stone / Barakat Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2. The Plague of Grasshoppers, Germany, c.1400 / Getty Museum Collection, California

3. Still life with fruits, a grasshopper and a butterfly by Maria Sibylla Merian, c.1670 / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany

4. Locusta Germanica.Tab XXIV by Rosel von Rosenhof, c.1746 / Engraving with hand coloring / Pictura Antique Prints, The Netherlands

5. Freshwater Jar with Procession of Grasshoppers, by Makuzu Kōzan I, c.1870/80s / Stoneware with wood lid and ivory knob / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

6. Grasshopper and sunflower by Shibata Zeshin, c.1877 / Woodblock print / Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN

7. French Art Deco Grasshopper Hood Ornament, c.1920s / Bronze on Bakelite Plinth / Deco Interiors, Gloucestershire, UK

8. Corsage Brooch with Grasshoppers by René Lalique, c.1920 / Molded glass, nickel silver, marcasite, and pigmented resin / The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

9. Grasshopper by M.C Escher, 1935 / Wood engraving / Limited edition, various collections

10. Dog and grasshopper, 1930 / Porcelain / Musée National Adrien Dubouche, Limoges, France

11. Don’t Be a Job Hopper by Walt Disney Company, 1944 / Poster / Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, Hyde Park, NY

12. Green Grasshopper by Yvonne Rosalind Barlow, c.1964 / Oil on board / Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, UK

13. Locust And Grasshopper by Salvador Dalí, 1967 / Original colored lithograph / Limited edition, various collections

14. The Ant and the Grasshopper by Jacob Lawrence, 1969 / Ink on paper / Paul G. Allen Family Collection

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Grasshopper Found Embedded in van Gogh Masterpiece
https://nelson-atkins.org/grasshopper-found-embedded-van-gogh-masterpiece/

Takehisa Yumeji

Posted in Illustrators by

Japanese artist and poet Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934)

With mandolin, 1911. Image from https://arthistorypi.org/books/yumeji-modern

“He is known foremost for his Nihonga illustrations of bijin, beautiful women and girls, though he also produced a wide variety of works including book covers, serial newspaper illustrations, furoshiki, postcards, and patterned washi paper.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumeji_Takehisa

Illustrated book of poems by artist/author Takehisa Yumeji,1912

Good Morning, 1915 / Shōjogahō (Girls’ illustrated magazine) January 1915

Sheet music for Johannes Brahms’ “Meine Liebe ist Grün”, July 1923

Saint Mary, November 1924 / Woodblock illustration tipped into The Ladies Graphic magazine

Cover for The Ladies Graphic magazine, 1927 / Color woodblock, offset lithography

Cover for Kuro Neko magazine, 1929 / Offset lithography

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The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints~
https://www.myjapanesehanga.com/home/artists/takehisa-yumeji-1884-1934.html
Taisho Romanticism and the Roots of Kawaii~
https://japanesekawaiiculture.com/takehisa-yumeji-taisho-romanticism-and-the-roots-of-kawaii/

Victoria Monkhouse

Posted in Illustrators, Women Artists by

British artist and illustrator Victoria Monkhouse (1883*-1970)

*(or 1884 or 1885)
“Victoria Monkhouse was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum’s Women’s Work Sub-Committee when still a student at Cambridge University. She produced a series of seven drawings of women working in roles previously performed by men, who had been called away for military service.”
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM https://www.iwm.org.uk/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/6-stunning-first-world-war-artworks-by-women-war-artists

Women working in WWI, 1919 / Pencil and watercolor / Imperial War Museums, UK

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“Lesser Known Artists Of World War One”
http://lesserknownartists.blogspot.com/2018/12/victoria-monkhouse-1885-1970-british.html

Anne Harriet Fish

Posted in Illustrators, Women Artists by

British cartoonist and illustrator Anne Harriet Fish (1890-1964)

Image from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Harriet_Fish

“Fish is known as an arch chronicler of the Jazz Age. A caricaturist and satirist, she first attracted notice in England, notably in the pages of Punch and The Tatler…Fish created her own character, Eve, whose exploits in the Tatler were captured in compilations called the Book of Eve”
https://www.dbdowd.com/illustration-history/2015/11/13/anne-harriet-fish

The First Eve Book, 1916 / 64 pages, B&W illustrations / Rooke Books PBFA, UK
“Her illustrations for the “Letters of Eve” in The Tatler spawned films, theatre and three books.” ~Wikipedia

Abdulla Cigarettes Advertisement, 1921 / Published in “La Vie Parisienne” & “Punch”

Vanity Fair Cover Featuring Two Bathing Beauties, 1923 / Painting

Assorted characters at art opening, c.1925 / Pen and ink / Illustration for Vanity Fair

Small Double Footmen Hubley Doorstop, 1920s / Cast iron / Signed “©Fish”
Fish created designs for Hubley, the cast iron manufacturing company, and for Fulper Pottery

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Go Fish! https://bawdybisques.blogspot.com/2019/04/go-fish.html
Anne Harriet Fish (1890-1964)~
https://www.doorstops.com/artist/fish.html
Artist Spotlight: A.H. Fish~
https://condenaststore.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/a-h-fish/

Autoportrait Day 366~ Trina Robbins

Posted in Self Portraits, Women Artists by

A random survey of self-portraits created by women through the centuries

Comic artist and author Trina Robbins (born 1938)

1. Self-portrait sketch, c.1973 / Graphite and ink / Morse’s Funnies Version 3

2. Self-portrait button, 1975 / Metal with clear celluloid cover / Various collections

3. Back cover of Trina’s Women, 1976 / 36-page one-issue comic / Various collections

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Sam Savitt

Posted in Illustrators by

Equine artist and illustrator Sam Savitt (1917-2000)

Image from Equestrian Living: Remembering Artist Sam Savitt
https://eqliving.com/remembering-artist-sam-savitt/

[Sam Savitt] “started his career doing magazine illustrations, and became well known for his illustrations for Dell comic book covers, for whom he did Western illustrations. He wrote, or co-wrote, 17 books on horses, as well as private commissions and the Sam Savitt series of charts, which were used in the Smithsonian.”
https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/illustrators/savitt-sam/

The Lone Ranger’s Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver, No3, 1952 / Dell Comics

Lad: A Dog Anniversary Edition, 1968 / E. P. Dutton, NY

Sea Horse from Sam Savitt’s Book of Horse Nonsense, 1975 / Black Horse Press, NY

Woman with a horse and foal, ND / Oil on canvas / Private collection

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Wikipedia~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Savitt
Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists~
https://www.pulpartists.com/Savitt.html
Horse Book Illustrators, Part Three: Sam Savitt~
http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2014/06/horse-book-illustrators-part-three-sam.html

Ruth Sigrid Grafstrom

Posted in Illustrators by

American illustrator Ruth Sigrid Grafstrom (1905-1986)

Image from Stay on the Ride blog post about Ruth Grafstrom
http://stayontheride.blogspot.com/2013/06/ruth-grafstrom.html

“After formal training in Chicago and Paris, Grafstrom entered the field. She worked primarily in fashion illustration…She also took magazine fiction projects, and worked with the Delineator, Cosmopolitan and other women’s mags. Graftstrom secured significant advertising clients, among them Saks, Matson Line, Coty, and Pepsodent.”
https://www.dbdowd.com/illustration-history/2015/11/13/ruth-sigrid-grafstrom

Two Fashionable Young Women, 1931 / Illustration for Vogue magazine

Statues in Satin, 1938 / Illustration for Vogue magazine

Man and dog, 1939 / Illustration for Esquire magazine

Saint, to be loved and adored, 1946 / Magazine ad for Adrian Perfume

Palm Beach Portrait with Sun Hat, 1947 / Original watercolor with colored pen

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Wikipedia~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Sigrid_Grafstrom
American Art Archives~ https://www.americanartarchives.com/grafstrom.htm
Matson Navigation Company Archives~
https://matsonvintageart.com/collections/ruth-sigrid-grafstrom

C. Coles Phillips

Posted in Illustrators by

American illustrator Clarence Coles Phillips (1880-1927)

“In May 1908…he pioneered what came to be his signature design—a graphic human figure with a detailed face, hands, and feet, and with clothing in the same shade as the background. This design, called “The Fadeaway Girl” took the illustration world by storm…”
https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/coles-phillips

Cover for Life magazine, July 9, 1908

Cover for Good Housekeeping magazine, February 1915

Overland Automobile advertisement, c.1915

Original artwork for Collier’s, 1921 / Gouache and watercolor on board

Holeproof Hosery Company Advertisement, c.1923

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Clarence Coles Phillips and Negative Space~
https://postcardhistory.net/2021/12/clarence-coles-phillips-and-negative-space/
Classic [Saturday Evening] Post Artist: Coles Phillips~
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/04/classic-artist-coles-phillips/
National Museum of American Illustration~ https://americanillustration.org/project/coles-phillips/

Mary R. Bassett

Posted in Illustrators, Women Artists by

American illustrator Mary Robertson Bassett (1841-1933)

“Mary Robertson Bassett illustrated magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal, and children’s books published by Baker & Taylor Company, Grosset & Dunlap, and other publishers.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_R._Bassett

Frontispiece from Fairy Operettas by Laura E. Richards
1916 / 119 pages / Published by Boston:Little, Brown

Illustration from Fairy Operettas by Laura E. Richards
1916 / 119 pages / Published by Boston:Little, Brown

Illustration from Poems My Children Love Best Of All by Clifton Johnson
1917 / 276 pages / Published by New York, Lloyd Adams Noble

Illustration from Poems My Children Love Best Of All by Clifton Johnson
1917 / 276 pages / Published by New York, Lloyd Adams Noble

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Author Laura E. Richards~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_E._Richards
Author Clifton Johnson~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Johnson_(author)
The American Illustrators Gallery~ https://www.americanillustrators.com/artists

Designer Alice Cordelia Morse

Posted in Designing Women, Women Artists by

Alice Cordelia Morse (June 1, 1863-July 15, 1961) was an American designer of book covers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Cordelia_Morse

Image from https://archive.org/details/womanofcenturyfo00will

In 1885, two years after graduating from Cooper Union, Morse took a position at Tiffany and Company as a designer and painter of stained glass. Around this time, progressive American publishers began to commission artist-designers to design the covers of commercial books, rather than assigning the work to die-makers and engravers, as was customary. Morse grew interested in the emerging field of book-cover design while still at Tiffany’s. Perhaps in part due to her experience there, she developed an impressive ability to interpret nature motifs and historical ornament. On leaving Tiffany’s in 1889, Morse resumed her education at the Woman’s Art School while also working as an independent designer. She soon rose to the forefront of the first generation of artists to design commercially produced books.

Quote from Mindell Dubansky, author of
The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse, 2008
 http://alicemorse.blogspot.com/p/overview-2.html

 

Design for Stained Glass, late 19th century / Brush and gouache, watercolor on paper / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, NYC

Art and Handicraft in the Woman’s Building of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 / Cloth cover with gold-stamped and silver-lined floral motifs / Smithsonian Libraries, DC

Design for Title Page, Occupations of Women and Their Compensation, c.1899 / Brush and gouache on paper / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, NYC

Poems of Cabin and Field, 1899 / Cloth cover with orange and green stamping / National Museum of African American History and Culture, DC

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Further reading:
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mors/hd_mors.htm
https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Articles/2020/11/06/Carnegie-Halls-Stained-Glass-Windows
https://bookbindersmuseum.org/women-in-book-cover-design/