Margaret Evans Price Prolific Childrens Book Illustrator

Margaret Evans Price 1888-1973 was a children's book illustrator and author. She was born in Chicago, but her family soon moved to Nova Scotia and then settled on the east coast, Massachusetts and later New York. It is interesting that her talents were discovered early. Her first illustrated story was sold to the Boston Journal when she was just 12. Her studies took her to the Boston Academy of Fine Arts and Paris.
Another interesting point in the life of Price, is that she was married to Irving Price who was the cofounder of Fisher Price Toy Company along with Herman Fisher.
Here are some nice images from The Real Story Book, published in 1927. I like this book because it has many lesser known stories, such as How the Sea Became Salt, The Seven Wonderful Cats, and Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar.

John Austen's Fairie Queen Design Completed by Agnes Miller Parker

John Austen was a carpenter turned prolific illustrator, and one of the most favored by the Limited Editions Club. While living in Kent, he brought his idea to the LEC directors, for an edition of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen. He would draw a series of illustrations, which would be turned into wood engravings. The works would resemble the story-telling tapestries of Elizabethan times. While the Nazis fought the British overhead, Austen embarked on the project, drawing sample pages, headings and drawings. As he began to work on the wood engravings, he started to lose the use of his right arm, and then the use of all his muscles. He died in 1948.
Agnes Miller Parker, a wood engraver and friend of John Austen, finished the project. The results are lovely -- detailed patterns and rich textures. Top illustration is King Arthur.



Britomart, the courageous lady knight



The Redcrosse Knight and the Dragon

The Heritage Press version of this book is currently available.

Images of Oz From John R. Neill, Royal Illustrator of Oz

It was a good week and I had a nice find. I picked up a small lot of early printing Wizard of Oz books, Reilly & Lee, illustrated by John R. Neill. So now I have the opportunity to share some wonderful art from the Oz books.



Neill was a naturally gifted artist and an art school dropout. He was reported as saying, "They have nothing to teach me." He delved into a career as a newspaper illustrator honing his skills in busy Philadelphia newsrooms. He branched out into book illustrations and eventually became a freelance illustrator.

He is the most well known illustrator of Oz, illustrating 35 books in the series. It is enjoyable to peruse the Oz books, as some were primarily illustrated in black and white; some were illustrated with color plates and some were illustrated with four-color throughout. The Patchwork Girl of Oz is an example of an edition which used four-color throughout. Love these bright illustrations.


The illustrated endpapers are vibrant.



I really like the design of these pages.

The first illustrator of Oz, W.W. Denslow, illustrated Dorothy as a younger, chubbier little girl with reddish-brown hair. Neill totally changed and modernized Dorothy in Ozma of Oz.




Dorothy from Dorothy and The Wizard in Oz.

The Emerald City of Oz has some very pretty color plates of Dorothy in a very romantic style.



Another great image from The Emerald City of Oz



Dorothy with the Princess Ozma in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.



Neill's OZ illustration career spanned 30+ years. What a fun way to make a living!

Little Golden Books Art: Viewing the Real Thing at Lake County Discovery Museum

I had a wonderful museum visit today where I saw 65 of the original watercolors, gouaches and pen and ink illustrations from Little Golden Books. I got a kick out of my friend's surprise that the Golden Book illustrations really were art.

Even though I've appreciated the talents of Golden Book illustrators for some time, my appreciation grew after seeing the "real thing." It was intriguing to see the texture and details of the works. It was also interesting to see the wide variety of artistic styles.

Here is one of Eloise Wilkins nature paintings featured in My Little Golden Book About God. Wilkins work has a harmonious quality.



Gustaf Tenggren is one of my favorite Golden illustrators and he was one of the most prolific. His work also shows great range. Here is a painting for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This as well as some of his other work has a folk art feel.



The mediums used were primarily pen and ink, watercolor and gouache. Gouache is a type of watercolor that is more vivid and opaque.

Garth Williams Elves and Fairies.



Elizabeth Orton Jones' Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood



It did surprise me that this is the most extensive showing of original Golden Book illustration. The art was borrowed from the Racine Heritage Museum; Racine, Wisconsin is the birthplace of the Little Golden Books. I would love to see a more extensive showing; maybe the Racine Museum will do that someday.

Learn more about the exhibit.

Folk Art Inspiration From Edgar and Ingri D'aulaire

The illustrator pair Edgar and Ingri Parin D'aulaire, emigrated from Europe, and became well-regarded for their illustrations as well as their historical writing for children. It's funny when you find a new artist, it seems you tend to start running into their work more often. Some genre of synchronicity, I guess.
I recently picked up both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, at two different sales. Upon opening the pages, I was immediately charmed by the D'Aulaire style, both in their illustrations and their storytelling. The stories include details that turn historical characters into real people a child could relate to. The drawings are in both black and white as well as lovely hues.
The D'Aulaires folk art pictures look like colored pencil drawings, however, the books do not tell us the medium, only that they are lithographs. Of course, lots of horse illustrations, a perennial favorite!
One of the most interesting notes about Edgar is that he was a student of Henri Matisse.
I will be seeking out more Parin D'Aulaire collaborations at the book sales.

Gustaf Tenggren Prolific Illustrator for Disney, Golden Books

Gustaf Tenggren, born in Sweden, and emigrated to the US, was a prolific illustrator of children's books. He had a unique, vivid, caricature style. Tenggren got his big break in 1935, when he was hired as art director for Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. He also worked on Pinocchio, Fantasia and Bambi.
He is one of the most popular of Golden Books illustrators and did the Poky Little Puppy.
Here are some images I particularly like. These two are from a Golden Press Folk Songs book.





Here are two from The Lion's Paw:





And here are some Golden Book classics, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack in the Beanstalk. I love Tenggren's Jack!





I always enjoy finding a Tenggren book when I'm out hunting.

Clara M. Burd, Golden Age, Painter and Illustrator

I love the illustrations done by Clara M. Burd, who studied painting in France. She was noted for her children's portraits and also for stained glass designs. These illustrations are from Friendly Animals, Saalfield Publishing, 1928. The large format book with such detailed and beautiful illustrations is quite a treasure and very hard to find.
In the collie and Shetland pony, above, notice the skill Burd had in painting animals. Her children, too are adorable, a little Rubenesque.





Here are two from A Child's Garden of Verses, 1930.





You can see her expert use of light in these illustrations, particularly Bed in Summer, when the early evening sun is illuminating the bedroom. So pretty . . .

Premier Palaeo-artist Zdenek Burian -- Prehistoric Animals

Zdenek Burian (1905-1981), you could say he's the man who put the life back into dinosaurs. Working with palaeontologist Joseph Augusta in Czechoslovakia, Burian painted prehistoric landscapes and animals to complement Augusta's vivid descriptions.



Gorgosaurus and Scolosaurus

Prehistoric Animals was published by Artia in conjunction with Spring Books of London in 1956. Burian's paintings were the basis for the award-winning film Journey to the Beginning of Time, released in 1955.


A brief bio of Burian -- he dropped out of an art academy at 14 and embarked on a career as a book illustrator. In the '30s, the universities in Czechoslovakia were closed due to war and professors had idle time. This is when Burian hooked up with Joseph Augusta to collaborate on books. Burian later worked with palaeontologist Zdenek Spinar.

Earlier palaeo-artists produced animals that were stiff and rigid, while Burian was the first to incorporate action into his portraits of prehistoric animals. His paintings, mostly in oil, are so realistic that it was often commented that they appeared to be painted from live subjects.
This is what Burian told his friend, Oldrich Fejfar, on how he works:

"When I paint an animal, I always start with the eye. I make a sketch with pencil or charcoal and then I paint the eye in oil, and then I proceed. The eye looks at me and I understand the animal better." (From Cesky Rozhlas,08-06-2005, by Pavla Horáková)

Burian is considered one of the most influential palaeo-artists and he has many imitators.



Here is Burian's Phororhacos -- 6 foot tall flightless birds -- looks menacing.



Really pretty and dreamy prehistoric landscape. That dragonfly -- Meganeura -- had a 30 inch wingspan.



This depiction of Elasmosaurus is full of action. Skeletons of this prehistoric animal were believed to be the remains of dragons.





The woolly mammoth and the cave bear were contemporaries of early man.

Great vintage book!