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.)