Howard Pyle: Instructor

Howard Pyle at work in his studio

"When, after 18 years of unremitting work as an illustrator, Howard Pyle had firmly established himself as a master of his profession, he began to feel a pressing desire to pass on to others the knowledge which he had gained from so much experience. His opinions on art instruction were by no means orthodox. He himself had risen largely by dint of his own application and energy, without the aid of long study abroad and without very much schooling at home. In the light of this success, he was confident that he could help the younger generation of artists by showing them how he had learned to master his art. Accordingly, when the Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences in Philadelphia asked him to conduct a class in illustration during the winter of 1894–1895, he immediately accepted the offer, and in October undertook his new duties. This was the beginning of a career of teaching which was to last almost to the end of his life.

In the roll of his first class in illustration at the Institute thirty-six names, among which were those of Violet Oakley, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Maxfield Parrish. With this group of enthusiasts he worked endlessly and tirelessly, putting into operation all the ideas and theories which he had gleaned from the preceding years of his work. All winter long he went back and forth from Wilmington to Philadelphia once every week to superintend the study of these promising young men and women.

Almost immediately Howard Pyle became the center of art instruction in Philadelphia and one of the most celebrated teachers of illustration in America. But his class was so rapidly increasing in numbers that steps had to be taken to keep it from growing too large. He decided that he could do more service by limiting membership in it to advanced students only, to those who were almost ready to begin on some phase of work.

As he developed his methods of teaching, he conceived the idea that the truest criterion for judging the work of pupils was the practical use of the work which they produced. With this idea in mind he began trying out various productions of his students on the art editors of Harper & Brothers and other publishing houses. These pictures were oftentimes accepted and many of the pupils began to make almost enough money to support themselves. This system became one of the most important elements of his teaching."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)  

Howard Pyle: The Spirit of America

"Even Sir William Berkeley Saw He Must Yield"
by Howard Pyle

"Throughout his whole career there was always one subject in which Howard Pyle was preeminently interested, and that was the history of the United States. His reputation for this widespread knowledge of this country's history was so well-known to other artists that he was frequently called upon to supply some fellow craftsman with the details for a picture. He never failed to give the necessary information, and to it he always added a word of encouragement. But the chief merit of his historical research was that it found its expression in a series of pictures which interpreted American history and life. The series finally included so many pictures, in fact, that it could almost serve as a pictorial history of the nation. 

So much absorption in an American past give him a profound appreciation of everything connected with it. He could not see an old house destroyed without undergoing severe mental tortures, and the mere repairing of famous old buildings would move him to their support. In a letter he explained:

'Old buildings and fragments of the past are to me very and vitally alive with the things of the past. When, for instance, I saw your carpenters working upon the Old Swede's Church I could not but picture to myself in fancy the old builders of that past day in knee breeches and their leather aprons and their uncouth tools building up that which the present generation was tearing down. I understand exactly the unfortunate necessity of such repairs, but it also grieves me sadly to see them.'

It is interesting that in the field of history it was almost solely through pictures that Pyle appealed to his audience. He made many attempts to adapt his historical knowledge to the written page, but nearly all were unsuccessful. Yet each was illustrated by excellent drawings. This is puzzling because of his unflagging interest in the subject.

On August 20, 1895, the editor of 'Harper's Monthly,' wrote to him proposing a series of illustrations for articles on George Washington by Professor Woodrow Wilson. Pyle not only created the art but since his own knowledge of the subject was so immense, his input resulted in a number of changes in the text as well. When the work was complete, his Washington pictures were exhibited first at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, where he was teaching at the time, and then at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. For each of these exhibitions he himself published a catalog, printed with old black-letter type, imitating in form and content the publications of the Revolutionary days."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Pirates!

"Pirates Used to Do That to Their Captains Now and Then"
by Howard Pyle

"Pirates and their adventurous lives held a strange attraction for Howard Pyle, and he was never more content than when he had found some half-forgotten account of a notorious buccaneer and had plenty of time to spend in an examination of it.

For fifteen or sixteen years after his marriage a part of nearly every summer was spent in Rehoboth, a little seaside town favored by his wife. Later, when he had become a recognized illustrator, he would go to Rehoboth for the entire summer with his family and John Weller, his model and general handyman, and there he would work without interruption.

To the north of Rehoboth tower were some immense sand dunes, on the top of which loomed a quaintly picturesque lighthouse built in 1763, white-washed and glistening in the sun. Legends, which are as old as the lighthouse itself, have it that these dunes were once the haunt of many a bloodthirsty old sea-dog, who used them as a safe hiding place for unmentionable booty. It was assuredly a place curiously appropriate for pirates.

From the very beginning of his weeks in Rehoboth, Howard Pyle began to collect books on the subject, and gradually his library came to include almost every book which could shed any light upon the lives and deeds of Morgan or Kidd or Teach or any of the notorious freebooters of a former age. He was steeped in pirate lore, his own vivid imagination decorating the narratives from the books with romantic lights and shadows.

He wrote and illustrated two novels, 'The Rose of Paradise,' and 'Within the Capes,' a number of articles for Harper's including 'Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Maine' and 'Jamaica, New and Old,' and pirate illustrations other authors' works such as E.C. Stedman's poem 'Morgan.' Then followed a noble story, 'Jack Ballister's Fortunes,' and 'The Ghost of Captain Brand,' which met with tremendous success. The issue of 'Harper's Weekly' in which it appeared was sold out in record time, and the edition was very large.

"The Puncher" by Frederic Remington
The picture traded for Pyle's work

From the series of his pirate themed books, a most dramatic picture 'Pirates Used to Do That to Their Captains Now and Then' came to the attention of Frederic Remington, in whom Howard Pyle had found a congenial fellow artist. Remington immediately too a fancy to this picture and wanted it. An exchange of work was suggested. 'Too good - too good,' wrote Remington on January 15, 1895. 'The pirate captain dead on the sand. If I get that I will worship you, it, and once more take stock in humanity. As for what you will get - anything I have.The best thing is a big wash drawing, a bucking horse, going like the sweep of an angel's wing. But whatever you see of mine which suits your fancy, is yours. How's that?' Pyle made the trade and chose Remington's 'The Puncher.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: The Middle Ages

"The Flight from Falworth Castle"
in "Men of Iron"by Howard Pyle

"In the years after 'Robin Hood,' Howard Pyle was very busy with both writing and illustrating. 'Otto of the Silver Hand,' a story of the adventures of a brave little fellow in the Rhineland, was published in 1888. Joseph Pennell observed that, 'The full pages, though reproduced by process, look like old woodblocks; the head and tailpieces might be mistaken at a glance for Durer's.'

'Men of Iron,' a stirring tale of England in the troublous times of Henry IV came next. Its illustrations marked a great change in technology. The pen-and-ink work used before was abandoned, and black-and-white oils were reproduced by photographic process. With this new medium Pyle was able to get a more solid, a more realistic effect.*

About 1900, or a little after, improvements in the methods of color reproduction were made, and he began to turn his attention to paintings in full colors. For Harper's he began a series of full-color illustrations for medieval stories by other authors, including Mark Twain's 'Joan of Arc.' These pictures with their gorgeous harmonies of brilliant colors made a lasting impression both on the publishers and on the public and Pyle was in great demand. 

In 1903 Pyle proposed writing and illustrating the story of King Arthur to Scribner's, who enthusiastically accepted. In spite of the thousand and one other calls on his energy, the book grew from one to four volumes. 'The Story of King Arthur and His Knights' made its appearance in time for Christmas 1903. 'The Story of the Champions of the Round Table' appeared in 1905, 'The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions' in 1907, and 'The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur' in 1910.

As an expression of Howard Pyle's own feelings about these books, he wrote: 'My ambition in days gone by was to write a really notable adult book, but now I am glad that I have made literary friends of the children rather than older folk. In one's mature years, one forgets the books that one reads, but the stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown into the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.) 

* For pictures for "Men of Iron" see: https://www.sightswithin.com/Howard.Pyle/Page_5/

Howard Pyle: Robin Hood

Illustration from "Robin Hood"

"There is an appreciable link between Howard Pyle's stories of fairyland and his work in the period of the Middle Ages, by which term is not meant necessarily the definite historical era, but a somewhat imaginary time when knights and ladies experienced unusual adventures and when chivalry was an undeniable fact of society. Pyle described it as 'the land of Fancy, and is of that pleasant kind that, when you tire of it, you clap the leaves of this book together and 'tis gone, and you are ready for everyday life, with no harm done.'

The stories are based, at least partly, on materials which have been handed down from the Middle Ages themselves. His first book in this series is 'Robin Hood' was based on two collections of old ballads: Percy's 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,' and Ritson's 'Robin Hood.' Pyle read and re-read them, becoming thoroughly conversant with every detail of plot and character that could be drawn from them. Then he set about writing his own story. 

His Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, are all intensely human personages, yet all move in an atmosphere that is brimming with fanciful notions. The descriptions are superb, and the ballads and songs which figure pleasingly throughout are largely Pyle's own. Perhaps the greatest charm of the book lies in its pictures. The large, full-page plates masterfully tell in the story of Robin Hood, while delightful vignettes and highly decorative initial letters add glowing details.

Artist Joseph Pennell said: 'The book made an enormous sensation when it came out here and even greatly impressed the very conservative William Morris, who thought up to that time...nothing good artistically could come out of America.' It grew to be one of the best sellers for children. By 1902, it was so well known and appreciated, that a curtailed edition was brought out for schools and used with great success throughout the country.

Howard Pyle said that in looking back on his past work he felt that 'Robin Hood' was probably the only book of his which could in any sense be called a classic."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronical" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Fairy Tales

"The North Wind Flies with His Faithful Servant"

 

"Howard Pyle had been in New York only a short time when he discovered that the greatest charm of his literary work lay in his appeal to children. Fairy tales had always fascinated him when he was a child. His mother had read to him all that could be found and he was saturated with their spirit. At first his fairy tales were mere retellings of old legends. From the skeleton of an old folk tale he would develop a story, so replete with details, and so changed to suit his own ideals, that one could scarcely recognize the framework of the original tale. Later he launched out for himself, inventing his own plots. 

A fairy tale to him meant more than an impossible story. He always combined his own with a touch of the moral, never heavy and nearly always artistic. His bits of common sense came as naturally to him as 'flies in the summer time.' And throughout all his tales there are no crudities, no useless cruelties, no evilly suggestive scenes to be found in so many purely mythical stories. As one grateful parent wrote him, 'we never have to skip a word.'

His first fairy tale book, 'Pepper and Salt' or 'Seasoning for Young Folk,' was published in 1886. It was not very successful, perhaps because it was too costly, but it was a genuine work of art bristling with good pictures and sparkling with a quaint, kindly humor. His second book, 'The Wonder Clock,' was published two years later. According to the plan of the book, every hour brought forth a new tale from the dilapidated old Wonder Clock which stood in Time's garret. This book was an immediate success. He always considered it his best book of fairy tales. It is interesting to note that the book has continued to grow in popularity through the years rather than to diminish. Six times as many copies were sold in 1919 as in 1889. It was not until 1895 that the third and last book of this nature, 'Twilight Land,' appeared. 

With his three books of fanciful tales, he established himself as a master of the form. They were written and illustrated with a perfection that can only be marveled at. The duality of his genius placed him head and shoulders above his contemporary rivals."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Marriage

"Washington and Mary Philipse"
by Howard Pyle

"Howard Pyle, who was an excellent tenor, had been pressed to sing in a chorus for an event, and was told that the first rehearsal would take place at the Pooles', a well-known family in Wilmington. On the appointed evening he went to the Pooles', where he was the first to arrive. Miss Anne Poole met him at the door. She did not know precisely who the strange young man was, but randomly guessed that he was the new tenor, and therefore engaged him in conversation. 

When the other singers came they found Miss Poole and Howard congenially talking and supposed that they were old friends. Consequently the evening's rehearsal went by and they were not introduced. And in Wilmington society in the late 70's for two people to become well acquainted without being properly introduced was a most unconventional thing. Nevertheless, it happened in this case. The young lady had made so deep an impression that Howard Pyle found it convenient for him to call at the Poole house very frequently. In fact, his visits became more and more regular. By July, 1880, the two young people had become engaged.

Howard Pyle now found it very necessary to ascertain whether or not he could make enough money to support two in the same manner in which Miss Poole had always lived, for it was inconceivable to him to think of marrying her unless he could give her everything which she had in her present home. He went to see Parsons at Harper's, and asked him, 'do you think, Mr. Parsons, but I have made a mistake, that I have been too hasty and selfish and involved a girl who has hitherto been raised with every want satisfied in an affair with an uncertain future?' 'No,' said he, 'I don't think anything of a kind. I have seen your work from the start, and have seen it steadily improving. A man of your talents is perfectly safe, and I should be perfectly willing to trust the future of any of my daughters to you and would do so without hesitation, and then saying that, I say all that I can say.'

After this encouraging opinion, Howard Pyle started into work with redoubled energy. Everything that could possibly strengthen his position he did. Pictures, many of them the best that he had done thus far, were completed in much less time than it had formerly taken him. He thought that it would be prudent to make his relations with Scribner's somewhat more intimate than they had been of late. He wrote to them telling them that he could now do work for them, and found that he was received 'with open arms, and the blowing of trumpets.'

After an autumn and winter of strenuous work, Pyle proved to himself that he was capable of making a good living. He was amazingly happy and his future was brimming with hope. On April 12, 1881, Anne Poole and Howard Pyle were married with A.B. Frost acting as best man."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Back to Wilmington

"A Wounded Enemy" by Howard Pyle

"In Wilmington things were very little changed for Howard Pyle. He lived with his family with his studio on the top floor of the house. Here he could work drawing whatever pictures Harper's requested of him. For models he used his mother, his brothers, or any obliging friend of the family. In addition to this work, he spent many hours over the composition of that children's book which was to start him on a career of writing.

This time the chief subject in his head was history, and how to adapt it to popular pictures and stories. He read voluminously whatever had been written on American history. He talked with all the old people who could tell him stories that they had heard from their fathers and mothers concerning the Revolutionary War and the colonial days. All of this he absorbed eagerly and remembered with remarkable tenacity. It was definite and rigorous research. No detail was missed, and all of it was of such a nature that he could use it in his future work. Years later he could tell precisely how many buttons a colonel in a Massachusetts regiment had on his coat,  or he could give the exact color of the hat worn by General Wolfe. He knew in what battles each regiment had been engaged. A great enthusiasm carried him through this continual prying into musty volumes, and it was an enthusiasm that never dwindled.

Since he was perfectly capable of both writing and illustrating, publishers would occasionally send him to some locality, which in their opinion was so little known that it might provide enough material of an interesting nature to warrant an article. Several times he was sent off into the remote districts of Pennsylvania or New Jersey in quest of such journalistic fodder, and he seldom failed to make a good thing of it.

In the meantime he was thoroughly enjoying his life in Wilmington, and had the opportunity of doing a number of things for which there had never been time in New York. Perhaps best of all was the reentry into community life, the simple pleasures of lawn tennis and whist parties, and he also found opportunities to sing. Howard Pyle had a rich tenor voice and a considerable facility. This made him very popular in musical circles. Little did he know that because of his voice, he would soon meet his future wife."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Farewell, New York!

Illustration for Harper's New Monthly*
by Howard Pyle

 

"In the year 1879 New York begin to lose its interest for Howard Pyle. There had been something very attractive in the free and easy life, full of triumphs and defeats, crowded with companions who had been more than friends to him, who had been fellow workers striving for the same ideal, a perfection of the illustrative art. But now the old camaraderie was breaking up. Abbey had gone to England, Frost was in Philadelphia, Reinhart was drawn away by his increasing work and growing popularity. 

The ranks were being filled by a new class of artists, 'the straight hat brims and pointed beards' as Remington called them, who considered illustration mere hack work. To one of Howard Pyle's temperament, which was courageously manly, and yet colored with a poetic mysticism that gave him a clear vision into the minds of children, found it impossible to be on intimate terms with them.

Pyle's work had also improved vastly. He was making more and more drawings for Mr. Parsons, and was meeting continually with that generous man's approval. These successes gave him a good reputation with 'Harpers,' and they were very anxious to keep him before their public. He had accomplished what he had come to New York to do: he had built up his professional skill, and had a market where he was sure of being well paid. 

Now, there was no reason for remaining in New York, especially when he found his surroundings so unpleasant. His thoughts turned irresistibly to home, to Wilmington. He could live there more cheaply and at the same time have all the advantages of being with his family and with the people whom he had known from childhood. Already he had the project of a book in his head - 'Robin Hood.'

Before leaving, however, he arranged with the Harpers and with Mr. Parsons that stories and articles should be sent to him, and that he should be considered as a regular member of the staff."

To be continued

(*The illustration is entitled "There is a Flock of Yellow Birds Around Her Head," 1892. Illustration for “Giles Corey, Yeoman," by Mary E. Wilkins, Harper’s New Monthly, December 1892. Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: To Be or Not To Be?

"A Wreck in the Offing" by Howard Pyle

"Up to this point Howard Pyle was conflicted on whether he should concentrate on either writing or drawing. Finally, but not without severe internal questionings and many delays, he decided that his abilities led him more naturally towards art. With this change in ambition it became necessary to have a studio, and here he worked on picture after picture, gradually building up a method of attack which was entirely his own. His ideas were good and he had plenty of them.

Mr. Charles Parsons, the art editor for Harper & Brothers, had gathered around him and trained a most remarkable group of young illustrators, among whom were Abbey, Frost, and Reinhart. With these young men he was building up the pictorial side of his magazines to a point which had never before been reached in this country.

To him Howard would take his sketches, and since the ideas were very often good, Mr. Parsons would accept them, but since in his opinion the technical work did not come up to the standard, he would have one of his staff artists redraw the picture. This was, of course, very humiliating to Howard. The matter rankled, and finally he asked Mr. Parsons for a chance to try his own hand at it. 

He tells the story himself:

'I took one day to 'Harper's' an idea for a sketch which I had called 'A Wreck in the Offing.' I begged Mr. Parsons to allow me to make the picture instead of handing it over to Mr. Abbey or to Mr. Reinhart to elaborate into a real picture. With some reluctance he told me that I might try. I believe I worked upon it over six weeks, and I might indeed have been working upon it today had I not, what with the cost of my models and the expense of living in New York, reduced myself to my last five-cent piece in the world. This forced me to take the drawing down to 'Harpers' instead of drawing it over as I should have liked to have done.

I think it was not until I stood in the awful presence of the art editor himself that I realized how this might be the turning point in my life. I can recall just how he looked at me over his spectacles. To my mind it seemed that he was weighing how best he might break the news to me of my lack of success. The rebound was almost too great when he told me that Mr. Harper had liked the drawing very much and that they were going to use it, and were going to make of it a double-page. My exaltation was so great that it seemed to me that I knew not where I was standing or what had happened to me. I found a friend, and took him Delmonico's and we had lunch of all the delicacies in season and out of season. My drawing was very much liked in the Department and brought me the friendship of all those young Olympians whom before I had regarded from the marsh of my unsuccess.'

This was late in 1877, and from that time everything moved more pleasantly. Harper & Brothers were well pleased with his work, he was associating with the people who most interested him, and he was building up an excellent reputation."

To be continued

(Excerpts are from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Life in New York

"Marooned" by Howard Pyle

"The first thing for Howard Pyle to look for in New York was a place to live. After considerable searching he finally found on Forty-eighth Street a vacant room in a boarding house which was managed by two middle-aged ladies, the Misses Marshall. The odd thing about it was that these two women were former neighbors of his mother's. They immediately took a fancy to the young man and took good care of him.

He worked regularly either at short stories and fables or at the illustrations to go with them, and for a time he had little difficulty in getting them accepted. In spite of the certainty, however, with which Mr. Smith had told him that 'Scribner's' would find plenty of work for Howard to do, it was not long before very little was forthcoming from that magazine. Still it was probably in the end a very lucky occurrence, for it threw him on his own initiative and made him fight his own battles.  

He took advantage of all the social opportunities which fell his way. He made himself acquainted not only at the boarding house, but also at the publishing offices, and soon had a circle of friends whom he had met in one place or the other. During the early part of his years in New York he wrote letters daily to his mother, which gave her full accounts of his activities.

On November 18, 1876, he wrote:

'I have not met anyone as young in years or letters as I am who has succeeded better or even as well as I have. I may make many failures at first and probably will, but it's in me and shall come out. I went down to the Photoengraving Company yesterday and received many valuable hints in regard to pen drawing. I have commenced a picture which I am going to submit to 'St. Nicholas' if it turns out as I hope. It is Queen Mab. She is flying through a gray evening sky on great dragonfly wings. In one corner is a flickering new moon, while the top of her wand forms a brilliant star. This is my intention if I can only carry it out. One could do a great deal if it weren't for that one word - 'only.'

On November 25, 1876, he wrote:

'Mr. Gilder had a long talk with me and he advised me to take a course of life study at the Artists' League, giving me a letter of introduction to a young Mr. Church who has his studio on Thirteenth Street. He also advised me to join the League, as there is a sketch class there where each student poses in turn for the benefit of others. Since two persons' advice is better than one, I shall most probably take advantage of Messrs. Gilder's and Church's, and join the League, albeit it's not an inexpensive operation. One cannot improve without study from models and nature, as all the good artists here do; and making pictures means making bread and butter to me for a while.'

On December 5, 1876, he wrote:

'At four o'clock I went down to the Sketch Club, taking my picture of 'Despair' along. It was a complete success. Afterward in the life class the students were very much interested and pleased with it. This praise has commenced to set me thinking. Would it be possible that I might make a success in Art? If I concluded to devote myself to that, there wouldn't be so much present money making in it, but opulence in future, should I succeed. If I begin to take up with that vocation, I should have to have the studio. Indeed, I feel the need of it more and more. All the artists who illustrate from magazines here work from models, and in that lies their superiority over other artists in other cities, but I have no place to study from models. Then, in case I turn my attention to art proper, I shall have to resume my painting studies from nature in the day class at the Art League. Some artists here to work day and night, and make a living by illustrating beside. So why shouldn't I do the same? I shall think seriously of it in the future.'

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: First Break

Illustrations from "Chincoteague" by Howard Pyle

"In the spring of 1876 Howard Pyle had gone on an expedition to a little island off the coast of Virginia known as Chincoteague where there flourished a breed of wild ponies. He was there at the time when the owners penned and branded these horses, and was very greatly interested in the operation. He watched it all in detail - how the horses were caught, how the branding was accomplished - and he especially took notice of the people who did it. He grasped their personalities, learned all about them, and caught the spirit of the local atmosphere. Then he wrote about it, and made sketches to go with his essay. It was a good description. It showed a real knowledge of the little island and a splendid grasp of the picturesque details. His mother immediately saw its value and advised him to send it off to 'Scribner's Monthly,' which was in the habit of publishing such things.

It was not long before a pleasant little note came from 'Scribner's Monthly' saying that the story had been accepted. The editors were particularly pleased with the illustrations, although they would have to be redrawn by their own staff of artists in order to be made suitable for purposes of reproduction. The Pyle family was delighted. Everything began to look rosy for Howard - especially when one of the owners of 'Scribner's Monthly,' advised Howard to come to New York, to spend all his time in drawing and writing for the magazines, and to develop his abilities until they should become of really great value. He implied that there would be no difficulty in getting plenty of work and said that nothing would be easier than for Howard to make a good living.

This was an opportunity not to be missed. Not only could he get a good start in the way of practical work for the periodicals, but he could also study again. There would be any number of good teachers there, and he could surely spare enough time from his work to be trained in the latest methods that had been brought over from Europe. 

His parents decided that if it proved difficult to make his way at first, he should be supported from the family purse. Accordingly, then, about the middle of October, 1876, he set out for New York, carrying with him the high hopes of his family and the glad confidence of young ambition."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Studies with Van der Weilen

"Battle of Bunker Hill" by Howard Pyle

"When Howard Pyle was about 15 or 16 years old his parents decided that it would be best to send him to college, but what did college mean to a youth who is more anxious to learn how to get a certain shady effect in the background of a pen-and-ink sketch, then he was in knowing what Cicero said in support of the Manilian Law? Still, it was obviously necessary for Howard to study somewhere. 

Philadelphia seemed to present the greatest opportunities. There were two schools there where the young artist might conceivably do his work. The Academy of Fine Arts, where careful instruction could be obtained along general classical lines, and a little private school where a certain Mr. Van der Weilen conducted a small class. It was decided that Howard should go to the second of these. 

This was a great and momentous step. Mr. Van der Wielen had graduated from the school in Antwerp with honors, but in pursuing his studies too zealously had injured his eyesight. He could go see sufficiently well to be of inestimable service to those pupils who were placed with him. With all the advantages of a European training, with a full knowledge of the most accepted technique, he combined a real teaching skill. This was the only systematic training that Howard ever had.

Even with all of this, Howard found time to help his father in the family leather business, which was not prospering too well in the early 70s. After the lessons with Van der Weilen were over, there began to be a waning in the young artists dreams of an art career. He was working almost steadily in the leather establishment and was heavily occupied with a variety of social activities. There was plenty to do, and he was happy. His artistic ambitions were almost dead. He needed a great awakening and it came in the fall of 1876."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)

Howard Pyle: Beginnings

"An Attack on a Galleon" by Howard Pyle

"American illustrator Howard Pyle was born on March 5, 1853. He was from old Quaker stock, and his parents were persons of most unusual culture. His mother in particular was an eager spirit, always in quest of the beautiful and the interesting. She had had the keenest desire to fulfill her own dreams of a literary and artistic career, and when this had become an impossibility, she had passed on her desire to her children, and kept continually before them the books which appealed to her: 'Pilgrim's Progress,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' the novels of Dickens and Thackeray, and also fairy tales. It is possible to trace back Howard's interest in illustration to her influence. 

He wrote: 

'I can remember many an hour in which I lay stretched out before the fire upon the rug, in a snug, warm little library whilst the hickory logs snapped and crackled in the fireplace and the firelight twinkled on the andirons, with the snow softly falling outside, covering all the faraway fields with a blanket of white. Many and many an hour do I remember lying thus, turning over leaf after leaf of those English papers or of that dear old volume of 'The Newcomes' or of 'The Old Curiosity Shop' where you may see the picture of Master Humphrey with the dream people flying about his head. So looking at the pictures, my mother, busy with the work on her lap, would tell me the story that belonged to each. So that time, perhaps, was the beginning of that taste that led me to do the work I am now doing.'

When Howard was old enough to gain something by a little study, his parents sent him to school. Here, by his own confession, he was far more interested in drawing pictures on his slate or in the margins of his book, then he was in the intricacies of grammar or arithmetic. While he joined in the play of his school companions, he was far easier when off by himself sketching away with some romantic idea in his head or one peacefully sitting at home happily intent on some tale of the Middle Ages. 

His mother had visions of her son fulfilling the dreams which she had had in her own childhood and youth and was overjoyed that he was giving such manifestations of promise. He was allowed to sketch and scribble away - for he wanted to write as well as to draw - as much as he pleased, and she was always ready to make suggestions and to criticize what he produced. Who would deny that such patience and such sympathy would have an incomparable affect on the development of the child?"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle"by Charles D. Abbott.)

Philip de Laszlo: What Is a Great Portrait?

"Johannes Gennadius, Greek Ambassador
at the Court of St. James’ by Philip de Laszlo

In 1933 de László demonstrated his dashing technique in a series of photographs, while answering questions posed by the writer A.L. Baldry. The photos and text were published in 1934 by The Studio Publications of London, in volume six of their "How to Do It" series. We continue with these excerpts:

19. Choice of Subject

Q: Tell me, which do you like best to paint, a man, a woman or a child?

"I do not think I can answer that question either, as the point is one I have never considered. Really, I believe that they all interest me equally. It is fascinating to analyze in a man what makes him worth noting—his strength of character shown in his face, his masculinity, his racial peculiarities and the stamp impressed upon him by his station in life—in a woman, her grace and charm, her refinement, her subtlety and that appealing quality which is called femininity, in a child its innocent beauty, its miniature perfection, its delicacy of coloring. Why should a portrait painter limit himself to specializing in one sex or in a particular age? He ought to be receptive of impressions of all kinds and from all sources, and every new impression that is worth accepting should be to him a fresh inspiration. But whoever it may be that an artist is going to paint I am certain that he cannot hope for success unless there is between him and his sitter confidence and sympathy."

20. What Makes a Portrait Great?

Q: By way of summing up would you say what in your opinion entitles a portrait to be called great?

"The best summing up would be to repeat what I have just said, that confidence and sympathy between the artist and his sitter are essential, because the truly great portrait is the one in which this contact has been so close that it has spurred the artist to his highest achievement. Really, there is a collaboration in which the sitter and the artist both contribute something vital, the sitter a character and a personality which are inspiring and a right instinct, as well, for self-revelation in pose and gesture, the artist a special capacity to observe acutely and to record convincingly those subtleties of characterization which the sitter consciously or unconsciously gives him and, in addition a finely cultivated taste which enables him to make his picture harmonious in design and satisfying in its color scheme. The artist, it is true, can only record what he sees, but when the opportunity is afforded him to look into the mind and soul of his subject he can, if he is equal to his task, produce a portrait in which everyone will be able not only to recognize the physical features of the sitter, but to perceive also the deeper-lying qualities by which he is distinguished. That would be what I should call a great portrait."

What responsible work then it is, portrait painting.

"Of course it is. On the portrait painter lies a very great responsibility indeed, for he has not only to satisfy his contemporaries but also on many occasions to create for the benefit of future generations an historic document of his times and this document would be without authority if it were not at least as much a study of character as a representation of plainly visible facts. The merely exact reproduction of the sitter's features at a particular moment as a camera would do-is scarcely worthy to be called a portrait at all; I say, once more, that in this branch of artistic practice the only painting that can be held to justify itself is the one which in the rendering of those features expresses the full mental and moral stature of the human being to whom they belong. Here it is that the individuality of the painter appears and here it is that his powers are subjected to the severest test. Different artists painting the same sitter would produce differing results, because their individualities would vary; so, you see, the inadequacy of the artist who has assumed a responsibility he has not qualified himself to bear would show in his work and he must stand for all time self-convicted of failure."

Philip de Laszlo: Accessories & Miscellany

"Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies" by Philip de Laszlo

The brilliant Hungarian artist, Philip Alexius de László, 1869-1937, was the successor (in 1907) to Sargent's portrait practice in London. In 1933 de László demonstrated his dashing technique in a series of photographs, while answering questions posed by the writer A.L. Baldry. The photos and text were published in 1934 by The Studio Publications of London, in volume six of their "How to Do It" series.

6. Accessories

Q: What about the rest of the portrait, the draperies and accessories, how do they rank in relative importance?

"Most of what I have just said about the manner in which hands and feet reveal personality applies to the movement of the sitter's body and, I repeat, rightness in recording that movement is necessary for the making of a successful portrait. There is, in the pose he adopts an unconscious assertion of himself, and the way he wears his clothes emphasizes this assertion. A woman's dress, a man's uniform, robes or everyday suit fall into lines on the sitters themselves quite different from those they would take on any model or lay figure and so you may fairly say that the arrangement of the draperies must be seriously studied because in it is seen a further revelation of character."

17. When to Stop

The sitter, the
painter and the
completed por-
trait. In this
instance the
entire process
occupied only
eight and a half
hours.

Q: Is that why, as you put it, you develop the general effect of your picture continuously?

"Yes; I say once more that by the time I have finished the head I reckon to have brought all the rest of the picture into harmony and right relation with it without necessarily dwelling upon the lesser details. That is the stage at which this portrait of Miss Ffrangcon-Davies has now arrived and there is, I think, no need to carry it any further. It is an example of a type of picture I often paint in which I concentrate on the head and hands and leave the rest unelaborated but, as nearly as possible, correct in forms and values. Still, now that the head and hands are finished, I could, if I wished, complete the draperies and accessories with the help of a model or lay figure, without losing the qualities of the picture, because I have already painted all the main facts of the draperies on the sitter. I might mention that when I do paint a completely finished large picture I endeavour to keep the draperies restrained in tone so that, however rich the dress or uniform and accessories may be, the attention of the spectator is not diverted from the head and hands by any over-insistence upon the incidentals."

Q: But surely your method is a little unusual. Do many artists paint the draperies in their portraits on the actual sitters?

"I really cannot tell you, but I am inclined to think that a good many do not. You will often see in a portrait that the head gives the impression of not belonging to the body. This is generally because the head has been painted throughout and finished independently of the rest of the picture and then the clothes on someone else's body have been added to it. The result must almost inevitably be a misfit, which is to be deplored. Of course, the risk of over-tiring the sitter must be avoided and for this reason I have always aimed at rapidity and directness in my handling of the draperies which the sitter wears. To paint a hand or foot from a model and not from the sitter would be, of course, unpardonable."

18. When a Fresh Start is Necessary

Q: I can quite appreciate that rapidity and directness are essential in all stages of work like yours, but I can also imagine that if you were not absolutely sure of yourself and knew exactly what you meant to do they might easily get out of control. What would happen if a picture did not develop in the way that you intended?"

"Before I go into that I would like to point out that no artist can ever be absolutely sure of himself; even to pretend to think that he is infallible would be a most dangerous form of conceit. At no time can he afford to relax his effort to acquire greater acuteness of vision and more complete command over the technical processes of his craft. Of course, because he is human, he will always be liable to make mistakes, and he must constantly be on his guard against them; and when they do happen they must be frankly recognized and boldly dealt with. I am convinced that when a piece of work has gone wrong it is no good tinkering with it and trying to pull it into shape. That only makes things worse. For myself, if I am not content with the way a portrait is developing, if from the moment when I have made my first drawing I cannot go straight ahead to a satisfactory finish, I throw aside what I have done and begin again."

Q: What! Another picture on a fresh canvas?"

"What else? To find that I was not succeeding in realizing my intention would mean that I could no longer take pleasure in my work and decidedly I should not feel inclined to waste my energies on something that annoyed me. Besides, even if I did fight my way out of the difficulty, all the freshness and spontaneity of my picture would be gone. With a fresh canvas I have a new problem to solve and I can start with my way clear before me. I have even, on occasions, discarded a half-finished portrait and begun another because I chanced to discover that my sitter had a more interesting aspect that the one I had first chosen to paint. It seems to me obvious that I should want his portrait to show him at his best."

Q: Would it not be permissible sometimes to improve on the original? For instance, when you were painting a woman might you not idealize her a little?

"Indeed, you surprise me! You are as bad as a very mature lady who once asked me to paint her, but insisted that I should make her look like what she told me she had been when she was twenty years younger."

Q: How amusing. Did you do it?

"Can you imagine my doing anything so ridiculous? If I were so foolish as to start trying to improve on nature what could I expect but an entirely artificial and conventional result" In serious portraiture there is no place either for what you call idealizing or for that sort of caricature which some people affect because they fancy that a portrait gains in strength by over-accentuation of the sitter's facial peculiarities. Very often these peculiarities are wholly accidental and have no significance whatever for the student of the sitter's character, and by exaggerating them a thoroughly false impression of his personality might be given. The painter's mission is to find and record intelligently the best and most characteristic view of his sitter, not to make him look like a freak."

Q: Do you think our modernist artists would agree with you in that?

"To such a question I have nothing to reply. I am not discussing the opinions of other people, I am explaining to you what I believe. Whether others do or do not agree with me has nothing to do with the matter. I claim the right to think for myself."

To be continued

Philip de Laszlo: Face and Hands

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

14. The Study of Psychology

Q: How can you manage that; is it all a matter of facial expression?

"To a certain extent it is, but by no means entirely. If you study people observantly and with understanding, you will soon see that they have, each one of them, individualities of movement and gesture, tricks and mannerisms even, which are personal and characteristic, and in these individualities you can often find a very helpful clue to your sitter's temperament. They will guide you in choosing for the portrait the movement that is most natural and appropriate, and which agrees best with the expression of the face. To make a portrait convincing the right pose of the body is very important. "

Q: Even so, I suppose the expression you get in the face is the chief consideration.

"Well, that is what people are interested in mostly, though it would be really amusing to paint a portrait in which the face did not show at all. It might be quite a good likeness if the general characteristics of the sitter had been skillfully realized. But the more shrewd the insight one can obtain into the sitter's personality, the more revealing will be the expression of the face and especially of the eyes. Who was it that called them the' windows of the soul'? That just describes how they appear to the portrait painter who is exploring the sitter's mind. I concentrate on them from the first and I study them with the closest possible attention through every stage of the painting of the head so as to make them as expressive as I possibly can.

The Portrait after Six Hours' Work

The portrait after the second sitting of three hours,
that is after six hours' work.

15. The Treatment of Hands and Body

Work on
hands and
arms.

Q: And when the head is finished what do you do next?

"By the time the head is finished I have the body and hands firmly sketched in and the background definitely suggested because, as you have seen, my method is to develop the general effect of the picture continuously. So I proceed with the hands—and the feet when the opportunity is given me to paint them—which I consider quite as important for the revelation of character and personality as the face itself and quite as enjoyable to paint."

Q: Is it not supposed to he very difficult to paint a hand properly?

"A hand is in some ways more difficult than a head, for while the face has features which do not change their relative positions and which remain immobile until the whole head is moved, the whole appearance of the hand can he altered by even a slight movement of one of the fingers. I insist that the painter should take a hand every hit as seriously as a face and recognize how eloquent it is in its power to tell us what are the intellectual and physical qualities, and even the age, of the person to whom it belongs."

Next in importance to the face are the sitter's hands. The painter is here bringing the hands up to the necessary degree of finish.

 To be continued

(Excerpts from “The Palette of P.A. de László: Philip A. de László with Miss Gwen Ffrangcon Davies and his portrait of her,” in The Studio, vol. CVII, London, 1934, pp. 38-9, ill.

Philip de Laszlo: The Stance and the Mirror

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

11. Standing Back from the Canvas

"When I stand back I am recording mentally what I am
going to put on my canvas when I walk up to it (below)."

Q: There is one question I have been waiting to ask you—why do you take so much exercise while you are painting? Why do you move backwards and forwards so incessantly?

"Well, as you see, I set my canvas beside my sitter, but what I put on that canvas I judge from a certain distance. I must go fairly far off to see the general effect of my subject as a whole in all that rightness of relation upon which I insist so much. When I stand back I am recording mentally what I am going to put on my canvas when I walk up to it."

Q: Really, one might say that you paint your picture while you are away from your canvas.

"In my mind; yes, I do. What I put on with my brush is considered and settled before I touch the picture, so much so, indeed, that I do not look at my sitter when I am close enough to put that touch on the canvas. How do you think I could judge the texture of any material if I were near enough to it to put my hand upon it? I must be sufficiently far off to appreciate properly the characteristic tones and values by which varieties of texture are made apparent." 

12. The Value of a Mirror

The chief value of the hand mirror is that it gives a new point of view of both
sitter and portrait. It acts as a check on drawing and the relation of tones.

Q: Does that little mirror you keep looking into help you to decide what you are going to do?

"Yes, to some extent it does. But its chief value is that it gives me a new view of both picture and sitter and therefore enables me to discover any faults there may be in drawing, or in the relations of tones. It acts like the fresh eye which can often perceive defects that the painter, having got accustomed to them, has failed to detect. I take a look in the mirror from time to time as a sort of self-criticism. At any rate the mirror is an honest critic."

Q: Is it useful as a means of studying your sitter's expression?

"No, not particularly. But sometimes a mirror can be used in such a way that it helps to give the sitter the expression I want. When, for instance, he is getting tired or restless, or even, in some cases, when he is shy and I cannot, by talking, arouse in him the vivacity that he must have to make his portrait reasonably successful, I place a mirror in his line of vision so that he can watch in it the progress of the picture as I

The standing mirror entertains the sitter and helps to maintain the desired expression.

work. I like my sitters to see what I am doing to the portrait at every stage and I am sure that by letting them look on in this manner I not only induce in them the interested expression at which I aim, but also offer to some of them, who have, hitherto, not had an opportunity to see a picture in the making, an educational experience which they enjoy."

Oh, yes, people always do enjoy being taken behind the scenes and shown how things are worked.

13. Keeping the Sitter's Interest

"Then why not encourage them? I have often noticed that a sitter's interest in painting and even in art in general grows while he is in the studio and I do believe that as a result of his experience there he will always in the future approach art with much more interest than before."

Q: The only objection that occurs to me is that watching you at work might have a tendency to make him move about: don't you want him to keep still?"

"Naturally I do, but there is a great difference between being still and becoming set and lifeless. If the sitter's face is lacking in animation the risk that the portrait, no matter how hard one tries, will be a dull record is very great and I feel that such a risk ought to be avoided at all costs. My way of preventing it is to do all I can to keep his interest awake and to make him alert and lively. Still, I do not deny that it is difficult at times, as all people are not equally responsive. "

Q: I suppose sitters do vary greatly in their ways: you cannot deal with them all in the same manner."

"Very definitely not, and what is the right manner in which each one should be dealt with is the first thing a portrait painter has to find out; indeed, upon that will often depend the success or the failure of his picture. Before he can decide what kind of treatment he should adopt he has to give at least as much attention to his sitter's mental characteristics as to his physical appearance; a portrait is not a still-life study, therefore it must be a good deal more than a simple record of a face. It must be a psychological revelation as well."

To be continued

Philip de Laszlo: Developing a Likeness

Philip de Laszlo continues to explain his process and thinking about painting a portrait in The Studio Publications of London article in their "How to Do It" series:

9. Developing the Likeness

Developing
the likeness.

Q: During the rest would you explain what you meant when you said just now that a likeness was developed by establishing the correct relation of light and shade?

"I cannot think of a likeness as something apart from the general effect. There is definitely the beginning of the likeness when the right beginning of the general effect is made and the development of the likeness goes on steadily as the general effect is amplified and made more complete. At first, as I have already told you, I deal with the larger planes only, but as I proceed I occupy myself more and more with the smaller planes and with those lesser subtleties by which what I would call the intimacy of the likeness is attained. But, of course, throughout I aim at the correct relationship of values because without that a real likeness is impossible."

Q: It still seems strange to me that you can get a likeness in a portrait without a preparatory drawing on the canvas, something plainly stated that you can build upon—most artists seem to regard a drawing as an indispensable foundation.

"I do not believe in doing a drawing first and then painting over it. That way there is a danger of losing one's freedom to take in the general effect and of becoming a slave to one's own doings. I consider that an artist should acquire such a thorough understanding of drawing that he can use it instinctively in his work without thinking of it as being separate from painting—but I see my sitter is ready again so I must get back to my picture."

10. Unity of Effect

Head and
accessories
receive almost
simultaneous
attention to achieve
unity of effect.

Q: Well, what is the next stage?

"Hitherto I have been concerned mainly with the head, as you have, I expect, noticed. Now, before I carry that further, I want to bring the rest of the picture to the same stage of harmonious unity throughout. This is necessary to enable me to judge how much more development the head will require to have the strength and significance of effect at which I am aiming. But remember this, that no two heads can be treated in exactly the same way and that in each one the character and type must to a great extent dictate the manner of dealing with it which should be adopted. A head with strongly marked features, for instance, does not demand such detailed treatment as one with less definite forms. It can be presented much more broadly and simply because its characteristics are more immediately apparent."

Q: For a while, then, you will leave the head as it is?"

"Yes, before I finish it I must attend to the surroundings and give them, or at all events the more important part of them, their full strength. I can tell then what degree of force should be added to the head to make it, as it should be, the dominant fact in the picture. Even when I am not actually working on the head, I am still thinking about it and the relation which must be established between it and the accessories among which it is set." 

To be continued