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.)