On this day, May 21, 1922, illustrator and political cartoonist Rollin Kirby (1875-1952) won the first Pulitzer Prize given for a cartoon, for his political cartoon On the Road to Moscow. Published in August of 1921, the cartoon focused on the still relatively nebulous threat of Communism to the peoples of the world by picturing Death beating
On this day, May 20, 1916, the weekly magazine, The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first Norman Rockwell cover illustration, Boy with the Baby Carriage.
On this day, May 19, 1893, illustrator Harold von Schmidt was born in Alameda, California. He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the San Francisco Art Institute, and after WWI with Harvey Dunn at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. His work appeared in many popular magazines.
On this day, May 18, 1925, children’s book illustrator Lillian Hoban was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and also studied dance with Martha Graham. Hoban illustrated more than 100 children’s books some of which were written by her husband Russell Hoban.
On this day, May 17, 2002, cartoonist Dave Berg died in Marina Del Rey, California. He studied at Pratt Institute and then at Cooper Union. He began to draw for Mad magazine in 1956 worked for them throughout his life.
On this day, May 16, 1922, pulp illustrator Jim Bentley was born in Patchogue, New York on Long Island. After service in the Army Air Corps in WWII, Bentley studied art through correspondence course with Art Instruction, Inc. He produced illustrations for various pulp magazines and paperback book cover illustrations for various publishers.
On this day, May 15, 1875, illustrator Anna Whelan Betts was born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Paris, and with Howard Pyle in Wilmington, Delaware. Her work appears in many of the popular magazines of the time and when her eyesight failed he retired from illustration.
On this day, May 14, 1904, pulp illustrator Jon L. (Jacob Lupu Blumer) Blummer was born in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1924 he moved to New York and worked as a line artist in newspapers. In 1930 Blummer began his studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, but he only finished 2 years of a 3 year program.
On this day, May 13, 2010, children’s author and illustrator Ruth Chew died in Castro Valley, California. Ruth Chew studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. She created over 30 children’s books mostly in the juvenile fantasy genre, mostly published by Scholastic in the 1970s and 80s.
On this day, May 12, 1908, pulp illustrator Harry Barton was born in Seattle, Washington. Barton studied at the Art Students League in New York. During WWII he worked a defense job. After the war Barton began producing illustrations for the pulps and cover illustrations for digests and paperback books.