ART & ARTISTS: 2022-02-06

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 1-8 also.

This is part 9 of a 13-part series on the works of Howard Pyle:

1898 Washington firing the first gun at the Siege of Yorktown
Scribner's Magazine November 1898

c1898 The Evacuation of Charlestown
oil on canvas 59 x 89.5 cm
Delaware Art Museum

1899 "The Good, aged Doctor… The Man for the Hour”
McClure’s Magazine for December 1899
oil on canvas 46.3 x 31.1 cm

1899 The Dancer Harper's
Monthly December 1899

1899 They Scrambled up the Parapet
oil on canvas

1900 “Assassination of William of Orange” from The Rise of the Dutch Republic
Harper and Brothers

1900 “His niece had found him lying dead” from the short story “A Life for a Life”
Scribner's Magazine

1900 Erik Bögh, translated from the Danish by Jacob Riis,

"The Pilgrimage of Truth,"

Harper's Monthly Magazine (December 1900):

1. 1900 Truth Leaves the Fairies Wonderland
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

2. 1900 Truth before the King
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

3. 1900 Truth in the Temple
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

4. 1900 Truth before the Seer
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

5. 1900 Truth Went on Her Way Alone
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

6. 1900 Truth in the Fool's Lodge
Illustration to Erik Bögh
Harper's Monthly Magazine December 1900

1900 He looked down and sang out, “Lower away!”
Scribner's Magazine

1900 McClure’s Magazine
January issue

1900 To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston
Hard Cover

1900 To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston
Title Page

1901 A Dream of Young Summer
oil on canvas 55.9 x 20.5 cm

1901 Margaret of Cortona
Harper's Monthly, November 1901

1901 Washington's Retreat through New Jersey
wood engraving 8.9 x 14.4 cm ( image )
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

1901 “Then appeared suddenly, a little beyond the light of the lamp, the spirit of Kurban Sahib”
for "Sahib's War" by Rudyard Kipling
Collier's Weekly December 7 1901