EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 23 © 2018 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

3 N. C.Wyeth The most popular illustrator from the early part of the twentieth century, who inspired countless artists from all over the world. A real patriarch who took care of the education of his children, he resented being considered a mere illustrator as Diego Cordoba tells us in this account of his life story. One of the most successful illustrators of all time, N. C. Wyeth’s bloodline produced two other famous painters; his son (Andrew) and grandson (James).Wyeth’s full-colour oil paintings for the Scribner’s Illustrated Classics series of books, influenced a multitude of other illustrators from around the world. His use of light and shadow, and the way he applied colour in an almost impressionistic way, made him a personal favourite of many other illustrators (Norman Rockwell and the brothers Hildebrandt) and comic strip artists (Hal Foster was heavily influenced by him). Born in Needham, near Boston, Massachusetts, in 1882, Newell Convers Wyeth was the eldest of four children. His father came from a long line of the Wyeth family, established in the United States for over 200 years (an ancestor of his had been one of the ‘Indians’ at the Boston Tea Party, another had fought during the CivilWar, and his uncle Nathaniel had built cars). Although established in Needham, amostly farming region, Wyeth’s father worked in Charlestown as a hay inspector, his work keeping him away from home most of the time. Wyeth grew close to his mother, a Swiss emigré, who, like her own mother, preferred the countryside to the city and liked living close to her family. Since Convers was the oldest, his mother confided mostly in him, and referred to his other brothers as “the boys” when talking to him: as the eldest he would sometimes take the role of the absent father. Although Wyeth had always been on the stout, heavy- boned side, and grew to be over six feet tall, he had a high- pitched, yet commanding voice. His physical demeanour suggested that he would be suited to farming, which his father pressured him to pursue, but Wyeth had other ambitions. Living in the countryside provided not only life among livestock and days of horse-back riding, but served as a setting for his other passion: painting. Many were the days he spent drawing and painting all he saw around him: the barn, the four-wheel wooden wagons, FACING PAGE: Israel Hands – “ One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I, “and I’ll blow your brains out” , oil on canvas, 1911. Illustration from the Scribner’s Illustrated Classics of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’, the first of the classics Wyeth chose to illustrate. This book, the first in a long series, is considered to be Wyeth’s masterpiece. ABOVE: The Indian Lance , oil on board, ca. 1910. Early on, Wyeth chose to do images based on the Native American culture.