AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION.
In many ways the illustrative work of America is more interesting than
that of any other country. The rapidity of its growth, the encouragement
that has been given it by publishers, and the surprisingly important
artistic results obtained have won it recognition all over the world.
Twenty-five years ago, at the time that the best work was really being
done in England, scarcely anything was being produced in America. It is
true that some of the magazines had been started, and that some of the
men, who are best known as illustrators to-day, were at work. But it was
not until 1876, the year of the Centennial, the first international
exhibition held in America, that American artists, engravers, printers,
and publishers were enabled to form an idea of what was being done in
Europe. At the same time a brilliant band of young men, who had been
studying abroad, returned to New York, and it is mainly owing to their
return, and the encouragement which intelligent and far-seeing
publishers gave to them, and also to the artists and engravers who were
already in America anxious to work, that what is now known as the
American school of wood-engraving, together with American illustration
and printing, was developed.
The way in which this school has been built up is so interesting that it
may be well to refer to it somewhat in detail. From the time that Mr. A.
W. Drake, and, later, Mr. W. Lewis Fraser were appointed art editors of
the "Century," then "Scribner's," they made it their business, as art
editors, to assist and aid and encourage young artists. And earlier,
too, Mr. Charles Parsons who managed the art department of Harper
Brothers, gave such kind, sensible, and practical advice to many young
artists that not only will his name never be forgotten as one who helped
greatly to develop American art, but many an American illustrator now
looks back to Mr. Parsons as the man who really started him on his
career.
[Illustration: BY C. S. REINHART. WOOD-ENGRAVING FROM "THE CENTURY
MAGAZINE."]
Mr. Drake's plan was this. If an artist brought a drawing to him in
which there were any signs of individuality, intelligence, or striving
after untried effects, his endeavour was to use that drawing, at any
rate as an experiment, and to encourage the artist to go on and make
others; not to say to the artist, "the public won't stand this, and our
_clientèle_ won't know what you mean." But then Mr. Drake was a trained
artist and engraver.[22] Nor did Mr. Drake and Mr. Fraser put down their
opinions as those of the public. They did not pretend to be infallible,
nor did the literary editors; with the consequence, that the American
magazines have gained for themselves the largest circulation among
respectable publications. In engraving, too, the engraver was asked to
reproduce a drawing, not in the conventional manner, but as faithfully
as he could, not only rendering the subject of the drawing, but
suggesting its quality, the look of the medium in which it was produced.
From this sprang the so-called American school of _facsimile_
wood-engraving, which, until the advent of process, was the favourite
cockshy of the literary critic who essayed to write upon the subject of
art. Now, however, that he believes American engraving is about to
disappear in process--though of course there is not the slightest danger
of anything of the sort happening--he is uttering premature wails over
its disappearance, which is really not coming to pass at all.
[22] I do not mean to say that the American idea of having artists
for art editors is unique. Everyone knows the good editorial
work that has been done, and is still being done by Mr. Bale,
Mr. W. L. Thomas, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Mason Jackson, Mr. L.
Raven-Hill, to mention no others.
In printing, too, experiments were made from the very beginning with
inks and paper and press-work. And though stiff glazed paper has been
the outcome of these experiments, it is used simply because upon no
other sort of paper can such good results be obtained. If some of the
people who raise such a wail about this paper would only produce
something better, I am sure they would be well rewarded for their pains,
because all the great magazines would at once adopt it.
Another reason for the success and advancement of American illustrators
is because the publishers of the great magazines, like "The Century,"
"Harper's," "Scribner's," have had the sense to see that if you want to
get good work out of a man you have to pay him for it and encourage him
to do it, then reproduce, and print it in a proper fashion. Naturally,
the artists have taken a personal pride in the success of the magazines
with which they have been connected; in certain cases, greater probably
than the proprietors themselves ever realized. They have worked with
engravers; they have mastered the mysteries of process and of printing;
various engravers and printers have also worked with the artist, and in
many cases there has been a truer system of genuine craftsmanship than
existed in the everlastingly belauded guilds of the Middle Ages.
Within the last few years a new spirit has, to a certain extent, entered
into American publishing, and there have cropped up magazines which,
apparently, have for their aim the furnishing to their readers of the
greatest amount of the cheapest material at the lowest possible price.
Syndicate stories and photographic _clichés_ struggle with bad printing,
and possibly appeal to the multitude. However, these cheap and nasty
journals will probably struggle among themselves to their own
discomfiture, without producing lasting effect, unless the conductors
of the better class of magazines choose to lower the tone of their own
publications.
[Illustration: BY WALTER SHIRLAW. FROM "THE CENTURY MAGAZINE."]
The illustrated newspaper has become an enormous factor in America. The
"Pall Mall" claims to have been the first illustrated daily, and the
"Daily Graphic" is the only complete daily illustrated paper yet in
existence in England. "Le Quotidien Illustré" has just been started in
Paris. The claim of the "Pall Mall" is without foundation, as the London
"Daily Graphic" but follows in the footsteps of the New York "Daily
Graphic," which took its name from the London weekly; its illustrations
were almost altogether reproduced by lithography. The New York "Graphic"
was never a great success. Many American daily newspapers print more
drawings in a week than the London "Daily Graphic." The chances are that
in a very few years the daily will have completely superseded many of
the weeklies, and quite a number of the monthly magazines too. It is
simply a question of improving the printing press, and this improvement
will be made. Anyone who has watched the progress of illustrated
journalism during the last ten years can have no doubts upon the
subject; and I am almost certain that the very near future will see the
advent of daily illustrated magazines of convenient size, which will
take the place of the monthly reviews and the ponderous and cumbersome
machine we now call a newspaper.
[Illustration: BY HOWARD PYLE. FROM HOLMES'S "ONE HOSS SHAY" (GAY AND
BIRD).]
If, as is universally admitted, America has produced the best example of
an illustrated magazine that the world has to show, it is not very
difficult to find out the reason. Editors have secured the services of
some of the best native artists, and are ready to use the work of
foreigners. Also many of the best engravers work for these periodicals,
and in machine printing Theodore de Vinne has set up a standard for the
whole world. If these men have become master craftsmen, it is because
they first studied their art profoundly, and then learned the practical
requirements and technical conditions under which drawings can best be
reproduced for the printed page, as well as the best methods of printing
that page.
[Illustration: BY HOWARD PYLE. FROM "THE CENTURY MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: BY HOWARD PYLE. FROM HOLMES'S "ONE HOSS SHAY" (GAY AND
BIRD).]
[Illustration: BY ALFRED BRENNAN. PEN DRAWING FROM "THE CONTINENT."]
[Illustration: BY A. B. FROST. FROM "STUFF AND NONSENSE" (SCRIBNER'S).]
[Illustration: BY A. B. FROST. FROM "STUFF AND NONSENSE" (SCRIBNER'S).]
In his own way Mr. Abbey stands completely apart from all other artists.
His beautiful drawing, conscientious attention to detail and costume,
interesting composition and perfect grace give him rank as a master. His
edition of Herrick has become a classic, while in his "Old Songs," and
"Quiet Life," done in collaboration with Mr. Parsons, he has so
successfully delineated the eighteenth century that he has made it a
mine for less able men who have neither his power as draughtsman, nor
his appreciation that illustration is as serious as any other branch of
art, not to be entered upon lightly and without training. He has
transformed "She Stoops to Conquer" from a play into a series of
pictures; and his illustrations to Shakespeare will, without doubt,
become historic; they are models of accurate learning and careful
research, and yet, at the same time, the most perfect expression of
beauty and refinement. The decorative or decadent craze has also reached
America, and its most amusing representative, so far, is W. H. Bradley;
but G. W. Edwards, L. S. Ispen, and others, decorated books long before
mysticism became the rage.
Mr. Reinhart and Mr. Smedley have treated the more modern side of life
with an intelligence which is almost equal to Abbey's. Mr. Reinhart's
most remarkable work is to be found in "Spanish Vistas" by Mr. George
Parsons Lathrop, and in his sketches in "American Watering Places." Mr.
Smedley's drawings may be seen any month in "Harper's Magazine."
Mr. Howard Pyle has brought all the resources of the past to aid him in
the present, and is probably the most intelligent and able student of
the fifteenth century living to-day. Yet Mr. Pyle is, when illustrating
a modern subject, as entirely modern. He has treated with equal success
the England of Robin Hood, the Germany of the fifteenth century,
colonial days in America, children's stories, and the ordinary everyday
events which an illustrator is called upon to record. He is deservedly
almost as well known as a writer. His principal books are "Otto of the
Silver Hand," the "Story of Robin Hood," and "Pepper and Salt."
[Illustration: BY E. A. ABBEY. FROM "HARPER'S MAGAZINE"
(COPYRIGHT 1894, BY HARPER AND BROTHERS).]
[Illustration: BY E. A. ABBEY. FROM AUSTIN DOBSON'S POEMS (KEGAN PAUL).]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY C. D. GIBSON. FROM "THE CENTURY
MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY OLIVER HERFORD. FROM "FABLES" (GAY AND
BIRD).]
Mr. C. D. Gibson exhibits the follies and graces of society; it was he
who contributed so brilliantly to the success of "Life," the American
"Punch." Messrs. Frost, Kemble, Redwood, Remington, show the life of the
West and the South; while, as a comic draughtsman, Frost stands at the
head of Americans. These men's work will one day be regarded as
historical documents. Mr. Remington has given the rapidly vanishing
Indian and cowboy, especially in the "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman." Mr.
Frost's drawings of the farmer in the Middle States will later be as
valuable records as Menzel's "Uniforms of Frederick the Great." Mr.
Kemble is not alone in his delineation of darkey life and character. In
fact, he has rather worked in a field which was marked out for him by W.
L. Shepherd and Gilbert Gaul. W. Hamilton Gibson has treated many
beautiful and pleasing aspects of nature, both as writer and
illustrator. Blum, Brennan and Lungren transported the Fortuny, Rico,
Vierge movement to America, but have now worked out schemes for
themselves. Blum has produced more complete work than the others,
however, and his illustrations to Sir Edwin Arnold's "Japonica," and his
own articles on Japan, have given him a deservedly prominent position.
Elihu Vedder, most notably in his edition of Omar Khayyam, Kenyon Cox,
and Will Low, who have illustrated Keats and Rossetti, are responsible
for much of the decoration and decorative design in the country, and
there are many other extremely clever, brilliant and most artistic men
whose work can be found almost every month in the magazines. Mr. Childe
Hassam has brought Parisian methods to bear upon the illustration
of New York life; and Mr. Reginald Birch's studies of childhood, though
frequently German in handling, are altogether delightful in results, his
drawings having no doubt added much to the popularity of "Little Lord
Fauntleroy;" in the same sort of work P. Newell and Oliver Herford are
distinguished. Mrs. Mary Halleck Foote is one of the few who continue to
draw upon the wood, and very beautifully she does this; while Mrs. Alice
Barber Stephens, and Miss Katharine Pyle prove that there is no earthly
reason why women should not be illustrators. Mr. Otto Bacher, Mr. W. H.
Drake and Mr. Charles Graham turn the most uninteresting photograph, if
they are not doing original work, into a pleasing design; while that
phenomenally clever Frenchman, A. Castaigne, who, I believe, now
considers himself to be naturalized, gets more movement and dramatic
feeling into his drawing than almost anyone else, though he is closely
approached in some ways by T. de Thulstrup.
[Illustration: BY F. HOPKINSON SMITH. FROM "THE CENTURY MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY ROBERT BLUM. FROM "SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: BY CHILDE HASSAM. FROM A PEN DRAWING MADE FOR THE "NEW
YORK COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER."]
In some ways Mr. Harry Fenn, Mr. J. D. Woodward, and Mr. Thomas Moran
were among the pioneers of American landscape illustration. Mr.
Hopkinson Smith, whose work also is frequently seen in the magazines,
says that "Harry Fenn's illustrations in 'Picturesque America' entitle
him to be called the Nestor of his guild, not only for the delicacy,
truth, and refinement of his drawings, but also because of the enormous
success attending its publication--the first illustrated publication on
so large a scale ever attempted--paving the way for the illustrated
magazine and paper of to-day." In this venture of Appleton's, Mr.
Woodward and Mr. Moran had a large share. Among some of the younger men
should be noted Mr. Irving Wiles, whose work is as direct and brilliant
as, and much more true than, Rossi's; Mr. Metcalf, whose illustrations
to Mr. Stevenson's "Wrecker" are most notable; Mr. A. C. Redwood who,
with Mr. Rufus Zogbaum, has made the American soldier his special
study. F. S. Church is many-sided both in the mediums he employs and the
subjects he selects. J. A. Mitchell has produced in "Life" a society
comic paper which is much more human than "Punch." "Puck" and "Judge"
are the leading illustrated political weeklies; their conductors are D.
Kepler and B. Gillom.
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY FREDERIC REMINGTON. FROM "THE CENTURY
MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY R. BIRCH. FROM "LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY"
(WARNE).]
[Illustration: "READY FOR THE RIDE." WOOD-ENGRAVING BY T. COLE,
AFTER W. M. CHASE. FROM "THE CENTURY MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: BY ROBERT BLUM. FROM "SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE."]
The list of engravers is quite as important. Almost all of those who
belong to the American Society of Engravers on Wood are original artists
and very well deserving of mention, though their work itself has given
them a position which I cannot better. The best known is Timothy Cole,
whose engravings from the Old Masters have won him world-wide
recognition. He is followed by W. B. Closson, who has to some extent
attempted the same sort of work. Messrs. Frank French, Kingsley, and the
late Frederick Jüngling have, with surprising success, engraved directly
from nature; while for portraits, G. Kruell and T. Johnson are
deservedly well known. In fine reproductive work Henry Wolf, H.
Davidson, Gamm, Miss C. A. Powell, J. Tinkey, F. S. King, J. P. Davis
have shown that wood-engraving is an art which can be used in the hands
of a clever man or woman in a hundred ways undreamt of twenty years ago.
This list makes no pretension of being complete, for new magazines, new
men and new methods are springing up all over the country every few
weeks, and a mere list of the illustrators and engravers would make a
catalogue as large as this volume.
There was a period of great activity in American etching a few years
ago. Among the most notable results were Cassell's Portfolios of the
work of American etchers, edited by Mr. S. R. Koehler. But the art seems
now to be languishing. Mr. Frank Duveneck, Mr. Otto Bacher, Mr. Stephen
Parrish, Mr. Charles Platt, Mrs. Mary Nimmo Moran did some of the best
original work, while, as reproductive men, Peter and Thomas Moran,
Stephen Ferris, and J. D. Smillie were most notable. However, this brief
spontaneous movement toward individual expression unfortunately seems
rather to have spent itself; and America, like so many other countries,
is waiting for something new to turn up.
[Illustration: BY S. PARRISH. FROM A DRAWING IN "THE CONTINENT."]
[Illustration: BY GILBERT GAUL. FROM "THE CENTURY MAGAZINE."]
[Illustration: BY SELWYN IMAGE. FROM "THE FITZROY PICTURES" SERIES
(BELL).]
[Illustration: BY HEYWOOD SUMNER. FROM "THE FITZROY PICTURES" SERIES
(BELL).]