John Held, Jr. (1889-1958) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a cartoonist whose work epitomised the “jazz age” of the 1920s in the United States. At the age of 16 he was drawing sports and political cartoons for the Salt Lake Tribune, and at 19 he sold his first cartoon to a national magazine. Shortly afterward he moved to New York City, where he worked in the art department of a newspaper.
After service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Held returned to New York City, where he gained fame and wealth for his drawings in the popular humour magazines Life, Judge, and College Humor. These drawings conveyed a spirit of the era comparable to that in the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In particular, Held created such immortal characters as the short-skirted, short-haired “flapper,” who rolled her stockings and used a long cigarette holder, and her escort, who wore a raccoon coat, had patent-leather hair parted in the middle, smoked a pipe, and carried a hip flask. Held’s ability to point up the foibles of the time without sentimentality or bitterness made his cartoons notable. Also during the 1920s, he drew two comic strips: “Merely Margie, an Awfully Sweet Girl” and “Rah, Rah, Rosalie,” both of which ended with the Depression.
During the 1930s Held wrote novels and short stories and did sculpture and woodcuts. His woodcuts, often evoking the “Gay Nineties,” appeared in The New Yorker magazine. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was stationed in Belmar, N.J., where he made his home after the war. Held’s Angels (1952), illustrated by Held, with text by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr., was a word and picture evocation of the 1920s.
For more information on John Held Jr. see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 & 2 also.
This is part 3 of a 6-part series on the works of John Held Jr:
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| 1923 Where the Blue Begins |
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| c1923 Life magazine artwork The Girl Who Gave Him The Cold Shoulder gouache 83.5 x 76.7 cm |
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| after 1924 The New Haven R.R. poster 106.5 x 72.9 cm |
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| 1924 Hose and Pipe, Look Magazine illustration ink and watercolour on board 25.4 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1924 Hose and Pipe, Look Magazine illustration ink and watercolour on board |
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| 1924 Judge May 24, College Wits Number "It Hasn't Scratched Yet!" |
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| 1924 Judge magazine, September 13 "Nothing but Cold Shoulder" |
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| 1924 Life magazine, October 2, Chicago Number "This Little Pig Went to Market" |
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| 1924 Life magazine, November 13, The Football Number "Her Her Tackling Dummy" |
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| 1924 Life magazine, December 18 "To Bob or Not to Bob" original artwork |
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| 1924 Life magazine, December 18 "To Bob or Not to Bob The girl who couldn't make up her mind |
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| 1925 College Humor, June issue "Finishing Neck and Neck" |
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| 1925 Go West movie poster |
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| 1925 Hold 'em |
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| 1925 Life magazine, November 19 "Hold 'em" |
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| 1925 Judge magazine "They're Off!" |
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| 1925 Life magazine April 30 "A Heavy Date" |
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| 1925 Life magazine, September 10 "The Burlesque Number" |
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| 1925 Life magazine, October 1 "She Left Home Under A Cloud" |
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| 1925 Life magazine, October 29 "All Wet" |
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| 1925 Life magazine, December 17 "The All Year Round Girl" |
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| 1925 Nantucket poster The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co. 107.9 x 71 cm |
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| 1925 Original artwork for Life magazine "Silly Geese" |
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| 1925 The Rumrunner's Sister-in-Law wood engraving |
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| c1925 People in the Street pen and watercolour? |
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| 1926 Eastern Canada and Newfoundland Calling The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co. poster 106 x 71 cm |
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| 1926 It's Vacation Time in the Berkshires The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co. poster 105.5 x 71 cm |
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| 1926 Life magazine, February 18 Teaching old Dogs new tricks |
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| 1926 Life Magazine, June 3 The Sweet Girl Graduate |
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| 1926 Life magazine, July 29 The Laughing Stock |
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| 1926 Life magazine, September 30, Freshman Number Sweet Sexteen |
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| 1926 Life magazine, October 21 "A Poor Fish Out of Water" |
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| 1926 Life magazine, November 25 "A Simple Hook-Up" gouache and ink on board 36.2 x 28.6 cm |
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| 1926 Life magazine, November 25 "A Simple Hook-Up" |
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| 1926 The American Legion Weekly, February 26 issue |
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| 1926 Life magazine, March 18 "The Thinker" watercolour and ink on board 34.3 x 26.7 cm |
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| 1926 Tin Hats, MGM lobby card |
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| 1926 Tin Hats, MGM movie poster |
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| 1927 Colleen Moore in "Her Wild Oat" movie poster |
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| 1927 Colleen Moore in "Naughty but Nice" movie poster |
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| 1927 Jesse James woodcut |
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| 1927 Life magazine, February 3 Comic Strip Number |
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| 1927 Life magazine, April 28 "She Missed the Boat" |
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| 1927 Life magazine Back Number, May 18 |
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| 1927 Life magazine, July 7 issue "Pulling For Him" |
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| 1927 Life magazine, August 11 "The Faded Blonde" |
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| 1927 Life magazine, September 15 "It Won't Be Long Now" |
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| 1927 Life magazine, September 29, Freshman Number "Entrance Examinations" |
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| 1927 Lucky Strike Half and Half tobacco advertisement "Between the Halves Half and Half" |
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| 1927 Lucky Strike Half and Half tobacco advertisement "Pretty Smooth like Half and Half" |
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| 1927 Lucky Strike details not found |
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| 1927 Yale Princeton, November 12 hand-coloured wood engraving |
