Children's Book Illustration

The Howard Pyle students, Frank Schoonover, Stanley Arthurs, Jessie Wilcox Smith, George Harding, Edward A. Wilson, Harvey Dunn, Thornton Oakley, Elizabeth Shippen Green and others, were not only a company of prolific picture makers but also many of them taught illustration and tried to pass the Pyle tradition on to their students. They were probably successful in transmitting its essence, which was the important thing, although a superficial glance at present day children's book illustration actually reveals little trace of it.

The young American illustrator can look back upon the brief background of his art and find much inspiration. The thoughtful ones are conscious of this background, but other hundreds are completely immersed in the popular picture making of the moment, thinking of illustration as the satisfying of transient fads and fancies. The children's book illustration is usually largely exempt from these ephemeral pressures-the part he plays in illustration is of more lasting value. Because the material rewards of book illustration are, generally speaking, less than those of the magazine and advertising fields, he is not tempted to think of picture making only as a means of establishing the family for tune.

Children's book illustration present a land of opportunity and revelry for illustrators-the audience is eager and wonder-eyed and its editors alert and receptive. There is elbowroom for action, incentive for imagination and invention; there is more color to play with. The material dealt with is natural picture material. Sizes and shapes of books can often be unorthodox. No wonder the field attracts so many of the best illustrators. As a group, American children's book illustration has flowered during the past quarter of a century into a brilliant renaissance. Its development parallels the development of all American book making, but to a considerable degree they have been leaders in that development.

It seems inevitable, in reviewing the history of American children's book illustration, to come back again to Howard Pyle. He was a giant to his contemporaries-a very much taller man then than he is now. The spectacle of him, pouring his best gifts into the writing and picturing of children's books, made all his followers view the field with the same high regard. His "Robin Hood" and "King Arthur" are milestones in children's book making. In their way they have never been surpassed. The worthiness of children's book illustration lies largely in the hands of the children's editors. Almost all the important publishers have children's book departments and they are almost always presided over by women. They pick the manuscripts and choose the illustrators. They influence the design of their books. They are almost all able and gifted.