John White Alexander: A Hard Start

"The Blue Bowl" by John White Alexander

"John White Alexander was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1856. During his early boyhood he lived with his grandparents, his father and mother having died when he was very young. When he was twelve years old he left school and took a position as a messenger in the Pittsburgh office of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.  Col. Edward Jay Allen, the secretary and treasurer of the company, became interested in the boy, and upon the death of his grandfather, was appointed his guardian and took him into his own home.

Alexander lived with Colonel Allen until he was about eighteen, when he went to New York, with the purpose of studying art. There he secured employment with Harper & Brothers, although it was some time before he was given a place in the illustrating department. Charles Parsons was then at the head of this department, and during those years he gave Alexander valuable help and encouragement. 

At that time illustrations for the magazines were made by working directly upon the wooden block, several men frequently working upon the same block. Alexander usually put in the figures, but such composite illustrations were often unsigned. We do not, in turning to the old files of Harper's, find much that throws light upon this period of Alexander's work, although there appear occasional cartoons, signed 'Alexander,' from about September 18, 1876 until the middle of 1877.

Later on Alexander had frequent signed illustrations in Harper's publications, and also in the 'Century,' but this was after he had gone abroad, and not during those first apprentice years. Thomas Nast, Edwin Austin Abbey, Stanley Reinhart and A.B. Frost were all working for Harper's when Alexander first went there, and we know that he was in close touch with these men, and that in many cases the friendships which were formed there lasted throughout his life."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander" by H.M.B. in "The American Magazine of Art.")