John Gannam was an extremely successful commercial illustrator whose life was something of a Cinderella story. Born in Lebanon in 1905 as Fouzi Hanna Boughanam he came to America with his family in 1909. They settled in Chicago. Sadly, his father died when John was 14 and out of necessity he dropped out of school […]
Illustrators F-J
Robert Fawcett: At the Scene of the Crime
From the moment he could hold a pencil, Robert Fawcett began to draw. It turned out he had a true talent for it. Born in England but raised mostly in Canada and then New York, Fawcett dropped out of school at 14 to apprentice himself to an engraving shop and to work odd jobs until […]
A.B. Frost’s Early Street Sketches and Reportage
Arthur Burdette Frost’s early work was principally in pen line – like most book and magazine illustrations of the period. Line drawings reproduced better and were cheaper to engrave than halftone art. As one of Harper’s star artists, Frost was often sent out to cover articles on different parts of the country. Small towns and […]
A.B. Frost: The Sporting Art
Arthur Burdett Frost was one of America’s greatest artists. More than a famous magazine illustrator, who became best known for his sporting prints and paintings, he covered a wide range of subjects in his art. Frost’s depictions of the rural farmer, lowly shop-keepers and housewives, local politicians and black citizens of the old south were […]
More of John Gallagher’s Cartoons
After my last post, I realized I had a bunch more of John Gallagher’s cartoons I wanted to share. Here’s another collection with more to come in the future.
A Salute to John Gallagher, gag cartoonist
When I was a young teenager, I had dreams of being a gag cartoonist for the magazines. I remember leafing through old periodicals our neighbors were throwing out: The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, True, Look and others from the glorious 1950s, the golden age of the one panel cartoon. There were dozens of names I […]
Peter Helck: Trucking On
The illustrator Peter Helck was known for his masterful renderings of machinery, especially trucks, cars, trains and aircraft. When he was a boy in New York City around 1900 he would watch steam locomotives near Grand Central Station. That lead to a life-long fascination with engines and machinery. He became a commercial artist, but his […]
Before Danny the Dinosaur: The Early Cartoons of Syd Hoff
Syd Hoff was a prolific cartoonist, writer, children’s book author and illustrator. Born in 1912, he started drawing when he was four and never stopped. Serendipitously, when Hoff was in high school, cartoonist Milt Gross came to give a talk, saw Hoff’s work and predicted that someday Hoff would be a great cartoonist. On the […]