Johnny Appleseed (Original)

Artist: Richard Hook
Medium: Gouache on Board
Size: 14" x 19" (360mm x 490mm)
Date: 1981
Code: HookEdenLL

This is the unique original Gouache painting by Richard Hook.

The American folk hero, actually named John Chapman (born in Massachusetts in 1774), whose chief claim to fame was as a planter of apple seeds, hence his nickname. He carried a sack of apple seeds wherever he went and planted them in his endless travels through the wild, becoming so famous that his real name was forgotten.

Some reports describe him as an eccentric woodsman playing with bear cubs while the mother bear, normally ferocious in such condition, looks on placidly.

Original artwork for cover illustration to Look and Learn issue no 988 (14 February 1981).

• Artist Biography
  Richard Hook (1938 - January 2010; UK)
  Richard Hook was born in 1938 and trained at Reigate College of Art. After national service with 1st Bn, Queen's Royal Regiment, he became art editor of the much-praised magazine Finding Out during the 1960s.
  
  He then went on to work as a freelance illustrator, earning an international reputation for his deep knowledge of Native American material culture.
  
  He provided many illustrations, predominantly scenes from British history and daily life, for Look and Learn magazine during the 1960s and 1970s and illustrated more than 50 titles for Osprey, contributing to these books for over 30 years. Sadly Richard passed away in January 2010.