Traces, the magazine of the Indiana Historical Society, has just printed an article on the life and work of Franklin Booth, perhaps the most accomplished of Indiana's illustrators and brother of Hanson Booth, subject of the previous posting. The article is called "Billowing Clouds, Towering Timbers," and it was written by Thomas E. Rugh. Rather than compete with Mr. Rugh's article, I will offer some artwork by Booth. You can read more about him in Traces for Spring 2011.
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| Franklin Booth was renowned for his technique with a pen, but as this illustration shows, he was every bit as fluent in the language of color. Fantasy illustrator Roy Krenkel (1918-1983) appears to have owed much to his predecessor. |
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| Booth was largely self-taught as an artist. In his naivete as to how black-and-white illustrations were reproduced, he believed they were drawn by hand, so he painstakingly copied the technique of the engraver. In his maturity as an artist, the results were stunning, as this illustration can only suggest. |
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| Franklin Booth was also a cartoonist, though perhaps just once. His "Uncle Charlie Returns to the Farm," a Sunday newspaper comic strip, dates from 1904. |
Text and captions copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley
Where is the original of that Elephant illustration located?
ReplyDeleteI either have it or a VERY good copy.
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