Franklin Booth
Encyclopedia
Franklin Booth, was an influential American artist
notable for his highly detailed pen-and-ink illustrations.
. As a boy, he was determined to become an artist. He studied pictures in books and magazines, including Scribner's and Harper's
. His unusual technique was the result of a misunderstanding: Booth scrupulously copied magazine illustrations which he thought were pen-and-ink drawings. In fact, they were wood engravings. As a result, this led him to develop a style of drawing composed of thousands of lines, whose careful positioning next to one another produced variations in density and shade. The characteristics of his art were his scale extremes with large buildings and forests looming over tiny figures, decorative scrolls and borders, classic hand lettering and gnarled trees.
Booth was primarily a commercial artist, and his illustrations appeared in The Century Magazine
, Everybody's Magazine
, McClure's
, Cosmopolitan
, Redbook
, Good Housekeeping
, House & Garden
and Ladies' Home Journal
. He also created advertising art for Bulova Watches, Estey Organ, GE, Overland, Paramount Pictures, Rolls-Royce, Studebaker, Wallace Silver and Whitman's Candy.
, Mark Twain
, Theodore Dreiser
, Archibald Rutledge
, Meredith Nicholson
, Caroline D. Owen and other authors.
Some of the notable books Booth contributed to are: The Flying Islands of the Night (1913), The Prince and the Pauper (1917), A Hoosier Holiday (1916 - first US travel biography), The Poet (1914) and From Death to Life by A. Apukhtin (1917).
Other contributions include illustrating the annual Telephone Almanac from 1936 to 1944, and several years for the Victrola Record catalogue.
In 1925, a limited edition (210 copies) and regular edition of his work was published "Sixty Reproductions from Original Drawings" by Robert Frank. In 1976 this version was published again- smaller in size and lesser quality paper by Nostalgia Press
. All three versions are difficlut to locate today.
In 2000, the United States Post Office released: Classic Collections "American Illustrators" 34 cent postage stamps. Showing 20 famous American Illustrators including header artwork from Franklin Booth. (Scott# 3502) self-adhesive, serpentine die-cut sheets.
Despite the laboriousness of his technique, Booth's compositions were characterised by a grand sense of space. As a result, his drawings were often well-matched to poetic or editorial entries.
Books collecting his illustrations include Franklin Booth: American Illustrator (2006), edited by Manuel Auad by Auad Publishing, and Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen (2002) by John Fleskes.
Roy Krenkel cited Booth as an influence and dedicated some of his paintings to him.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
notable for his highly detailed pen-and-ink illustrations.
Biography
Booth was born and raised on a farm in Carmel, IndianaCarmel, Indiana
Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....
. As a boy, he was determined to become an artist. He studied pictures in books and magazines, including Scribner's and Harper's
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
. His unusual technique was the result of a misunderstanding: Booth scrupulously copied magazine illustrations which he thought were pen-and-ink drawings. In fact, they were wood engravings. As a result, this led him to develop a style of drawing composed of thousands of lines, whose careful positioning next to one another produced variations in density and shade. The characteristics of his art were his scale extremes with large buildings and forests looming over tiny figures, decorative scrolls and borders, classic hand lettering and gnarled trees.
Booth was primarily a commercial artist, and his illustrations appeared in The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine was first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City as a successor to Scribner's Monthly Magazine...
, Everybody's Magazine
Everybody's Magazine
Everybody's Magazine was an American magazine from 1899 to 1929.The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little role in its actual operations....
, McClure's
McClure's
McClure's or McClure's Magazine was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with creating muckraking journalism. Ida Tarbell's series in 1902 exposing the monopoly abuses of John D...
, Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
, Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
, Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, House & Garden
House & Garden (magazine)
House & Garden was an American shelter magazine published by Condé Nast Publications that focused on interior design, entertaining, and gardening....
and Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
. He also created advertising art for Bulova Watches, Estey Organ, GE, Overland, Paramount Pictures, Rolls-Royce, Studebaker, Wallace Silver and Whitman's Candy.
Posters
Booth contributed to the Great War by illustrating recruitment posters, US savings bonds envelopes, booklets and death certificates for American soldiers who perished in France and Belgium, and work for the Red Cross.Books
He illustrated books by James Whitcomb RileyJames Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively...
, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
, Archibald Rutledge
Archibald Rutledge
Archibald Hamilton Rutledge was an American poet and educator, the first South Carolina poet laureate from 1934 to 1973. He wrote over 50 books and many poems, usually about his hunting and life experiences in South Carolina.-Biography:...
, Meredith Nicholson
Meredith Nicholson
Meredith Nicholson was a best-selling author from Indiana, United States, a politician, and a diplomat.-Biography:...
, Caroline D. Owen and other authors.
Some of the notable books Booth contributed to are: The Flying Islands of the Night (1913), The Prince and the Pauper (1917), A Hoosier Holiday (1916 - first US travel biography), The Poet (1914) and From Death to Life by A. Apukhtin (1917).
Other contributions include illustrating the annual Telephone Almanac from 1936 to 1944, and several years for the Victrola Record catalogue.
In 1925, a limited edition (210 copies) and regular edition of his work was published "Sixty Reproductions from Original Drawings" by Robert Frank. In 1976 this version was published again- smaller in size and lesser quality paper by Nostalgia Press
Woody Gelman
Woodrow Gelman , better known as Woody Gelman, was a publisher, a cartoonist, a novelist and an artist-writer for animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks...
. All three versions are difficlut to locate today.
In 2000, the United States Post Office released: Classic Collections "American Illustrators" 34 cent postage stamps. Showing 20 famous American Illustrators including header artwork from Franklin Booth. (Scott# 3502) self-adhesive, serpentine die-cut sheets.
Despite the laboriousness of his technique, Booth's compositions were characterised by a grand sense of space. As a result, his drawings were often well-matched to poetic or editorial entries.
Books collecting his illustrations include Franklin Booth: American Illustrator (2006), edited by Manuel Auad by Auad Publishing, and Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen (2002) by John Fleskes.
Legacy
- "I have always admired the beauty of Franklin Booth's work and regard him as an exponent of the very best in American Illustration". ~Norman RockwellNorman RockwellNorman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
. - "Booth's pen-and-inks have the lush richness of a fine old tapestry plus an exciting imagination". ~ James Montgomery FlaggJames Montgomery FlaggJames Montgomery Flagg was an American artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters....
. - "I have always stood spellbound before on of Booth's noble pen paintings. They recall today the Golden Age of American Illustration when such giants as Pyle, Abbey, Remington, and Gibson set a standard hard to reach. Booth earned his place beside such men as These". ~Dean CornwellDean CornwellDean Cornwell was an American illustrator and muralist. His oil paintings were frequently featured in popular magazines and books as literary illustrations, advertisements, and posters promoting the war effort. Throughout the first half of the 20th century he was a dominant presence in American...
. - "I still wish I could do a pen drawing the way Franklin Booth handled them. The present-day student who wants quick success should be forced to copy a few of his illustrations just for the discipline. I used to do them just for the love of it". ~ Milton CaniffMilton CaniffMilton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
. - "Franklin Booth always will be so much better than practically anyone who ever picked up a pen." ~ Bernie WrightsonBernie WrightsonBernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...
.
Roy Krenkel cited Booth as an influence and dedicated some of his paintings to him.