Howard Pyle -part 5

Howard Pyle (1853, Wilmington Del. - 1911, Florence) was one of America’s most popular illustrators and storytellers at the end of the 19th century during a period of explosive growth in the publishing industry. His illustrations appeared in magazines like Harper’s Monthly, St. Nicholas, and Scribner’s Magazine, gaining him both national and international exposure. The broad appeal of his imagery made him a celebrity in his lifetime.

Pyle studied at the Art Student’s League, New York City, and first attracted attention by his line drawings after the style of Albrecht Dürer. His magazine and book illustrations are among the finest of the turn-of-the-century period in the Art Nouveau style. Pyle wrote original children’s stories as well as retelling old fairy tales. Many of Pyle’s children’s stories, illustrated by the author with vividness and historical accuracy, have become classics—most notably The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883); Otto of the Silver Hand (1888); Jack Ballister’s Fortunes (1895); and his own folktales, Pepper & Salt (1886), The Wonder Clock (1888), and The Garden Behind the Moon (1895).

In 1894, he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry. Among his students there wer valet Oakley, Maxfield Parrish, and Jessie Wikcox Smith. After 1900, he founded his own school of art and illustration named the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. Scholar Henry C. Pitz later used the term Brandywine School for the illustration artists and Wyeth family artists of the Brandywine region, several of whom had studied with Pyle. He had a lasting influence on a number of artists who became notable in their own right; N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Thornton Oakley, Allen Tupper True, Stanley Arthur, and numerous others studied under him.

Later Pyle undertook mural paintings, executing, among others, The Battle of Nashville (1906) for the capitol at St. Paul, Minn. Dissatisfied with his style in painting, he went to Italy for further study but died shortly afterward. Pyle had established a free schoolof art in his home in Wilmington, where many successful American illustrators received their education.

Pyle travelled to Florence, Italy in 1910 to study mural painting. He died there in 1911 of a sudden kidney infection (Bright’s Disease).

For earlier works by Howard Pyle see parts 1-4 also.

This is part 5 of a 13-part series on the works of Howard Pyle:

1887 The Wonder Clock, continued from part 4:

Peterkin and the Little Grey Hare
Peterkin bringeth ye little silver bell of the Giant to the King.

Peterkin and the Little Grey Hare
Peterkin as a girl combs the Giant's Hair.

Mother Hildegarde
The Princess comet into a wonderful country and to the house of a strange old woman.

Mother Hildegarde
The Princess looks into that which she should not have done.

Mother Hildegarde
The Princess dwells in the oak tree where ye wild pigeons come to feed her.

Mother Hildegarde
Mother Hildegarde carries ye baby away from the castle of the King.

Which Is Best
Having been thrice adjudged in the wrong, the poor man is left by the rich man blind upon the highway.

Which Is Best
The poor man touches the door with ye stone.

Which Is Best
The poor man finds that which is the best.

Which Is Best
The rich man findeth that which he deserveth.

The Simpleton and His Little Black Hen
The cunning landlord telleth Caspar where to take his hen to sell it for a good price.

The Simpleton and His Little Black Hen
Caspar findeth money in the willow tree.

The Simpleton and His Little Black Hen
The three share the money amongst them.

The Simpleton and His Little Black Hen
The three rogues lend Caspar sundry things so that he may go to the king's castle.

The Swan Maiden
The Swan carries the Prince over the hills and far away.

The Swan Maiden
The Prince come o the old, three eyed Witch's house.

The Swan Maiden
The Swan Maiden helps ye young Prince.

The Swan Maiden
The witch and ye woman of honey & meal.

The Three Little Pigs and the Ogre
The Ogre meets the three little pigs in the forest, whither they went to gather acorns.

The Three Little Pigs and the Ogre
The Ogre climbs the tree for the money that he believes to be there.

The Three Little Pigs and the Ogre
The Ogre shuts his eyes and counts fifty

The Three Little Pigs and the Ogre
The Ogre sticks fast in the window.

The Staff and the Fiddle
The Fiddler gives the old woman all that he has in his purse.

The Staff and the Fiddle
The Fiddler gives the word & the staff falls to drubbing the Dwarf as he deserves.

The Staff and the Fiddle
The Fiddler finds ye Princess in the cavern of the Dwarf.

The Staff and the Fiddle
The Fiddler and the little, black mannikin.

How the Princess's Pride Was Broken.
The Royal gooseherd playeth with the golden ball.

How the Princess's Pride Was Broken
The King peeps over the hedge and sees what is going on upon the other side.

How the Princess's Pride Was Broken.
The Princess taketh her eggs to the market.

How the Princess's Pride Was Broken.
The Princess knoweth the Young King.

How Two Went into Partnership
The Great Red Fox goeth to the stone house and helps himself to the good things.

How Two Went into Partnership
The Fox tells Father Goat a strange story

How Two Went into Partnership
Uncle Bear and the Great Red Fox visit the farmer's
 stone house.

How Two Went into Partnership
The Bear and the Fox do the farmer John's again.

King Stork
The Drummer carries the Old Body across the River.

King Stork
Thus the Princess cometh forth from the Castle at twelve o'clock at night.

King Stork
The Drummer helps himself to the good things, though no one can see him.

King Stork
The Drummer catches ye one-eyed raven.

The Best That Life Has To Give
The blacksmith takes ye dwarf's pine cones.

The Best That Life Has To Give
The blacksmith chooses ye raven and runs away with it.

The Best That Life Has To Give
The blacksmith brings ye wonderful little bird and tree
to ye Queen.

The Best That Life Has To Give
The Young Smith forges the best that life has to give.

A Princess Walks Beside ye Water, into Whose Basket Leaps ye Ring
pen and ink 24.6 x 17.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King
 pen and ink 18.3 x 17.1 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Princess and the Pigeons
Harper's Young People

1887 Master Jacob
pen and ink 9 x 20.2 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1887 The Blacksmith Chooses Ye Raven and Runs Away
With It
pen and ink 16.8 x 16.2 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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1889 George Washington’s first Inauguration
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April 1889

1889 She Was Silent
wood engraving by Henry Wolf, after Howard Pyle
Scribner's Magazine
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

1889 St. Valentine’s Day in the Morning
Harper's Weekly, February 1889

1890 "My hatred of him seemed suddenly to have taken to itself wings"
Scribner's Magazine, July 1890

1890 He lay silent and still, with his face half buried in
the sand
The Northwestern Miller, Christmas issue

1890 Mr. Leuba.
James Lane Allen’s “Flute and Violin”
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, December 1890

1891 "On sped the light chestnut, with the little officer bending almost to the saddle-bow"
illustrating “The Two Cornets of Monmouth”
by A. E. Watrous
Harper's Weekly, September 12 1891

1891 Men of Iron
Harper's Young People, March 17 1891