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Inspiration from Artists week 93 featuring Artists: Edwin John Prittie and David Curtis .
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Posted
Welcome to this week thread you will notice a chant to the name of one of the artists this evening due to my naming the author not the illustrator thankfully Jenny spotted the mistake I made .
This weeks artist are Edwin John Prittie and David Curtis . Jenny will open with her introduction to Edwin John Prittie and on Wednesday I will introduce David Curtis . I hope you enjoy the selections we have made .m
Posted
EDWIN JOHN PRITTIE (1879-1963) was an American illustrator of children’s books and classics for the John C Winston publishing company of Philadelphia from 1906 - 1932.
Born and raised in New York, he attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in 1898 and remained in Philadelphia where he spent his career as a freelance artist. During his tenure with Winston he illustrated text and reference books, and 14 major works and classics. His credits include the Twilight Animal Series such as George Ethelbert Walsh’s ‘Bumper the Rabbit’ books and the classics of Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Black Beauty and Gulliver’s Travels. He ended his illustrating career as a primary artist on Gum Inc’s ‘Horrors of War’ and ‘Lone Ranger’ series of bubble gum trading cards.
Posted
It's a style that appeals to me, and a very popular one in the illustration world...I suppose because it reproduces well in print. He does all the main work at the drawing stage, with some shading with ink on the animals and foreground trees etc. You'll notice the background landscapes etc are painted largely with flat colours, here and there just a few slight graduations. A fine artist, excellent drawing.
He worked in oils, and other mediums, but it's his line and wash work (above) that works best for me. Here's an illustration in oils....
...it's more rendered, and less effective for me. Just an opinion. Below there's another in this style.
His line work has greater impact. The image above has limited additions of colour, this may well have been added at the printing stage, and therefore the colour additions may not be the work of the artist.
His work is aimed at children, he was working at a time when there were great changes in style taking place in illustration, but illustration for kids remained traditional for many years.
So...for me a very fine line and wash artist, while his other work doesn't stand out so well.
...it's more rendered, and less effective for me. Just an opinion. Below there's another in this style.
His line work has greater impact. The image above has limited additions of colour, this may well have been added at the printing stage, and therefore the colour additions may not be the work of the artist.
His work is aimed at children, he was working at a time when there were great changes in style taking place in illustration, but illustration for kids remained traditional for many years.
So...for me a very fine line and wash artist, while his other work doesn't stand out so well.
Posted
His line work is sharper. Confession time: I used to cry over illustrations like the last full-colour one here: I always felt sorry for the dragon...
There is something very vintage about the colours - you just don't see the richness and subtlety in even the best work that was achieved in these sorts of publication; the reds of those berries - I don't know quite how you'd achieve that - the creamy orange of the dragon - it probably reflects the limitations of printing techniques to some degree, but once you see it you know it's old - you get a similar impression looking at me, but with less of the pleasure.
Posted
Some more of his superb work, I’m sure a lot of us have seen his books or similar works of art in childhood. I still have a few old books that my children have loved and the grandchildren still do despite the fact that they were produced sixty or more years ago. Works of Art that have inspired many children to sketch and paint over the years , it must becoming a lost skill as most books these days are computer generated and they often use photos. Hopefully some one will know what is happening in the book printing industry and can printing us up to date.
My selection I would have enjoyed seeing these as a child and still do find then fascinating. I did have the Robin Hood book as a child, and loved to read it often I think in the end it just fell apart.
Edited
by Paul (Dixie) Dean
Posted
Thanks for posting some more of his work, Paul. I have to admit though, that his paintings don’t appeal to me at all, whereas I love his beautiful, characterful illustrations. Others have mentioned it, but looking at these takes me straight back to my childhood - several of my early books had illustrations in just this style.
Edited
by Jenny Harris