MAGINEL WRIGHT ENRIGHT

Though I was very familiar with her visual work, I did not know the name of this American illustrator, Maginel Wright Enright, until doing research for June's illustrator birthday. And I was surprised to learn that she was the sister of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Women's Home Companion

Enright was born on June 19, 1881, and died on April 18, 1966. She was a very productive illustrator, creating images for advertising...

...women's magazines...and educational publishers.

Her first venture into children's book illustration was for the series "The Twinkle Tales", which were written by Laura Bancroft.

From "The Twinkle Tales"---I don't know which volume

Laura Bancroft was in fact a pen name for Frank Baum, the author of "The Wizard of Oz" books! Another surprise as I researched this illustrator.

Enright's style matured as she went on to illustrate more than 60 books for children...

...including editions of "Hans Brinker, or, The Silver Skates"...

...and "Heidi".

The Market

Not all of her work was done in full color. This piece was created with just 3 colors, black, orange, and blue---the use of limited color being the custom for much of illustration during her time. The 3 colors are used together in varying percentages to create a palette with a variety of hue and strength.

An Enchanted Conversation

Enright's work certainly reflects the illustration styles popular during the early 1900's...

Babes In The Woods---created with just 2 colors, blue and black

...the years when she was producing most of her work.

  But Enright was no copyist or slave of fashion. Her work is strong, skillful, timeless, with a wonderful and easily recognized personality. Like many women artists, she is relatively unknown today. Let's honor her by looking for her illustrations as we browse used book stores, antique shops, and online auctions!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginel_Wright_Enright
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Enright
http://home.metrocast.net/~tortak/illustrators/Wright.html

LEO LIONNI

Leo Lionni...author, illustrator, designer, art director, multi-talented creator...was born in the Netherlands on May 5, 1910, and died October 11, 1999 in Italy. He studied and worked as a painter and in advertising in Italy; then from about 1939 to 1962 he lived in the US, where he worked as a prominent advertising artist and art director.

Ad art for Container Corporation of America

His body of work exhibits an astounding versatility.

Fortune Magazine was one of his biggest clients.

Ad for Olivetti Typewriter

His work was often a startling break from the realistic images... 

Art for Colored Paper ad

...that dominated much of advertising at the time.

It would take a book-length post to cover all of the diversity and extraordinary vision this artist displayed in his work.

It wasn't until Lionni moved back to Italy around 1962 that he turned to the creation of children's books. By this time he had already honed his art to an exceptionally high level...

...and he brought all of that training, skill, and power, undiminished, to this new-to-him field.

Illustration from "Fish Is Fish"

The control, confidence, strength of his illustrations---and the whimsy, freedom, imagination, and child-like accessibility---burst forth from every page of his books.

Illustration from "Frederick"

So simple, so full of color (even in grays and neutrals)---so full of wit, joy, and energy---

Illustration from "It's Mine"

---art of this caliber in children's books is hard to find. A discussion of Lionni's storytelling gifts would fill yet more posts. I hope you will use the links below to find out more about this wonderful artist.

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2009/09/cover-story-fortune-magazine.html

http://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/designers-who-play-with-colored-paper/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Lionni

http://www.randomhousekids.com/brand/leo-lionni/about-leo-lionni/

MARCIA BROWN

Marcia Brown, American author and illustrator, was born on July 13, 1918, and died in April of 2015---just last year. Brown's work was awarded three Caldecott Medals, and six Caldecott Honors, during her career---more Caldecotts  (awards and honors together) than any other illustrator. She also received the prestigious Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1992 for her lifetime contribution to children's literature. Yet how well-known is she today? 

Brown should be talked about more than she is. Her work demonstrates a dazzling range of virtuosity, style, and media.

Woodcuts in two or three colors...

Cinderella

...vigorous yet delicate pen-work with pastel color...

Felice

...atmospheric color with lots of lines...

Henry-Fisherman

...bold flat primary color with hardly any line at all...

Shadow

...exotic colors and dramatic silhouettes...

The Bun

...or just the simplest strokes of pencil and crayon. Pen-and-ink, gouache, watercolor, pencil, crayon...

Note with illustration

...playful, adventurous, bold, sweet, powerful, delicate, silly, serious...her artwork covers the gamut. One would never guess that all of this diversity came from the hands of one individual. And I haven't even said a word about her writing. Honor this artist by looking up some of her books today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Brown

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/books/marcia-brown-picture-book-illustrator-dies-at-96.html?_r=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR9LGAJdiEM

https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/marciabrown/bio.htm   (This site is especially informative, including several interviews)

JAMES DAUGHERTY

James Daugherty was born on June 1, 1889. Like many other children's book illustrators, he worked creatively in a variety of styles and genres.

He was one of the first American painters to work with abstract color.

Daugherty sketching in his studio, his son posing for him

Later he began working in more representational styles...

Mural in the Greenwich Public Library

...creating a large body of work in the form of murals and paintings...

...that often explored American history and experience.

It was later in his career when he turned to children's books, a field in which he illustrated for other authors...

...as well as writing and illustrating his own distinguished, award-winning books.

His work is always vigorous, bursting with energy, so alive it seems to leap off the page.

One can feel muscles rippling beneath the surface of even the inanimate objects in his work.

Illustration from "Daniel Boone"

I had not realized until researching for this post that  Daugherty's work was also at times quite controversial (and perhaps still is)---for his uncompromising depictions of violent factual events, his sometimes scantily clad people, his uncomfortably accurate portrayals of this country's history. We are all too familiar with these same issues today, of course.

Daughtery's representational work remains, for me, some of the most beauiful art ever created. His images remind me of Michelangelo's art; they have the same heroic feel and look, the same celebration of the grandeur of creation.

But Daugherty's images have, in addition, their own unique qualities: a barely controlled energy, a life force that animates every creature, object, and item portrayed... as well as an acceptance of humanity in all its contradictory imperfection and nobility.

http://spaniermanmodern.com/inventory/D/Daugherty/Daugherty_BIO.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Daugherty

EDWARD LEAR

The British author and illustrator Edward Lear was born on May 12 or 13, 1812. ( I was having trouble finding an American artist with a May birthday whom I had not previously featured.)

 I thought I knew all about Lear. He was the creator of those clever limericks

and silly illustrations. Right?

To my amazement, I discovered that Lear was also a very serious artist/illustrator of birds. In fact, he was "one of the greatest ornithologists of his time" and his work was published in bird books, and compared favorably with the American James Audubon.

His images of other creatures, created as illustrations for books and for prints,

are equally masterful.

But there is even more. Lear was an accomplished landscape painter...

...drawing his subject matter from sites and scenes he saw and sketched during his many travels.

His paintings are skillful, competent,  and hold their own with any painter of this genre and style.

But it was when I looked at some of the sketches Lear created during his travels...

...sketches which he would use as reference for the paintings he composed once he was back in his studio...

...then I got a glimpse of the real genius of this artist.

Captured in just a few lines, with quick washes and strokes of color, sketches are an artist's most intimate and personal expression.They also are the clearest indication of a visual artist's ability and skill.

Edward Lear: landscape painter, "the British James Audubon", musician, composer, traveler and observer. And by the way, an author and illustrator of nonsense. When I see one of his delightfully silly and quirky images, I now have a completely different understanding of the artist behind them.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lear

https://blogs.harvard.edu/houghton/2013/03/29/whats-new-edward-lear-online/

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/06/edward-lears-natural-history/