In doing my research for today's posting, I was reminded of an exchange from What's Up, Doc? (1972):
Hugh: I am Hugh.Judge Maxwell: You are me?Hugh: No, I am Hugh.Judge Maxwell: Stop saying that. Make him stop saying that.
What does a screwball comedy from the 1970s have to do with Indiana illustrators? Only this: If you look for a Hoosier artist named Frank U. Wagner, you'll end up going down the wrong path and for a very long way. In the end, you will be lost. And why is that? Because the artist's name was not Frank U. Wagner, as people even from his own time often believed, but Frank Hugh Wagner.
Frank Hugh Wagner was born on January 4, 1870, in Milton, Indiana. A painter, sculptor, illustrator, and teacher, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under Frederick Freer (1849-1908) and John Vanderpoel (1857-1911). Wagner exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and with the Hoosier Salon. Wagner also taught art--including illustration and cartooning--at Winona College in Winona Lake, Indiana, during its brief existence in the early 1900s.
Although Frank Wagner's name can be found here and there on the Internet, he is not well remembered. I can offer on his behalf two claims to fame. First, Wagner applied for and received a patent for a type of picture book now called a "tunnel book." Rather than explain the concept, I'll just show an image from the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office, dated June 11, 1912 (page 322):
The Hole Book by Peter Newell (1862-1924), published in 1908, the same year in which Wagner applied for his patent, is a similar type of book. I don't know whether Frank Wagner ever published a tunnel book, but at least he received a patent for just such a design. Note the name on the patent: "Frank U. Wagner."
Second, Frank H. Wagner drew the illustrations for Ten Little Brownie Men: The Second Brownie Book (1911), which was written by a brother-and-sister team, Nathaniel Moore Banta and Alpha Banta Benson. The Brownies, created by the Canadian illustrator and cartoonist Palmer Cox (1840-1924), were wildly popular in books, magazines, and newspaper comics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I'm not sure what relationship if any the Bantas had with Palmer Cox. In any case, Nathaniel M. Banta and Alpha Banta Benson of Renssalaer, Indiana, are subject for a blog posting of another day.
Frank Wagner was married to Mary Lovett North, an illustrator, painter, book designer, and lecturer in her own right. She was born on December 24, 1875, in Milford, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Her parents were Captain Samson Jackson North, a lawyer and a Civil War veteran, and Mary A. Egbert North. Mary L. North was also descended from David Grosset Drake (1759-1850), a private in the New York troops during the Revolutionary War. Like her husband, Mary L. North Wagner studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under Freer and Vanderpoel and exhibited at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and with the Hoosier Salon. Among her other teachers was the Hoosier artist William Merritt Chase (1849-1916). Mary also exhibited with the Chicago Society of Miniature Painters.
Alone or with her husband, Mary North Wagner wrote and illustrated a children's book called The Adventures of Jimmy Carrot (1911). She also wrote the lyrics for a song called "The Brownie" (music by Maude L. McLaughlin). The 1930 census listed Mary as a lecturer in art. The Wagners' great-granddaughter, Tammy Setterquist Hepp, has let us know that Mary North Wagner lectured at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Frank and Mary Wagner lived in Milford, Indiana, and in Chicago and raised a large brood of six seven children. [See the comments below.] Frank Wagner died on July 21, 1942, in Chicago. In later years, Mary Wagner lived on a yacht called the Morie, moored in the yacht basin in Alexandria, Virginia, with her son, John North Wagner. He worked for the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving and appeared in a book called How Money Is Made, presumably a book by David C. Cooke published in 1962. Mary Lovett North Wagner died on June 21, 1957, in Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia. She was eighty-one years old.
Revised on September 29, 2024. Thanks to Tammy Setterquist Hepp, comment below, for further information on her great-grandmother.
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| The cover, title page, and endpapers for Ten Little Brownie Men: The Second Brownie Book (1911) by N. Moore Banta and Alpha Banta Benson and illustrated by Frank U. Wagner. ("Stop saying that. Make him stop saying that.") Note that the lyrics to the Brownie song are by Mary North Wagner. |
Text and captions copyright 2013, 2024 Terence E. Hanley
Thank you for your diligence . My great grandparents were just that…great.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/share/D5Z1EjMQK9ffvMnu/?mibextid=WC7FNe
My great grandmother Mary Lovett North Wagner was also a lecturer at the Chicago Institute of Art . She passed away 21 Jun 1957 (aged 81) Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia, where she lived on the yacht “Morie” in the yacht basin with her son, my grandfather, John North Wagner - who worked for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and appears in the book “how money is made”.
Frank and Mary Wagner were my paternal grandparents. They raised only six children as far as I know. My father David Haines was their fourth son and fourth child. I have an oil painting and an etching of his and a nativity set sculpted by my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteHi, Constance,
DeleteThe 1920 census had your paternal grandparents in Chicago. Their children were:
1. Rol?, 16
2. John N., 14
3. Richard J., 12
4. David H., 11
5. Francesca M., 8
6. Angelica M., 5
The 1910 census has the oldest brother as Ralph, age 6. The 1930 census has the oldest brother as Franz W., age 26. The 1940 census lists Franz R., age 36, still with his parents. Maybe Franz R. was Franz Ralph and he went by his middle name sometimes. And maybe that's where I made my mistake. Thank you for pointing it out. I will make a correction.
Thank you also for reading and writing.
TH
Thank you for this posting. My parents were Nina Lorraine Judy and John North Wagner. Mary and Frank were my grandparents. Unfortunately, My grandfather was deceased by the time I was born. I was able to spend a great deal of time with my grandmother… and was with her the day that she died. She was a wonderful and very unusual woman. There are some minor errors in some of the information. Tammy is my daughter and oral histories do get lost or modified. Constance is my cousin…. since my parents got married when they were middle aged, and I was born even after that… unexpectedly…. it is almost as if I am from a different generation. There were only three cousins; Constance, Richard Jr. and myself. My father was with the Treasury Department, Bureau of Engraving and Printing…. upon retirement, received the Albert Galatin Award.. However, he did live with his mother and sister (Francesca aka Aunt Tess) on a yacht in what was called at that time, the tidal basin, in Washington D.C. …. and that is where he lived while courting my mother, in Franklin, PA …. It was a different yacht than the Morrie. I am looking at a photo of the Morrie… my parents eventually sold it, but we visited the new owners. The yacht shared with Aunt Tess and Grandma… probably got quickly replaced by another dwelling. My father was Merchant Marine during WWII… as a lot of captains of private vessels were, that were capable of patrolling looking for Nazis. My grandmother lived in a small house near us… with Aunt Tess. They were devoutly, Episcopalian… since neither drove, it was near their church. Also, additional info…tidal basin residence..gave my father very close access to the U.S. Naval Yard… which is where he was working at the time as a draftsman, and designer. His best friend was my uncle, Raymond Mintz,; they met at the Navy Yard. He was married to my mother’s sister, Ethel. Uncle Ray was the matchmaker. My parents bought the Morrie; my mother was a talented musician, and it had a salon large enough for a baby grand piano.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, my uncle was not called Rolf… he was Uncle Franz…. which was part of his given name. He married Aunt Golda, an older woman with two children: Billy and Elizabeth. Grandma Wagner and Grandpa Wagner did have seven children…. a daughter named Elizabeth, died as an infant. It was before Francesca and Angelica (Tess and Jelly… Aunt Ann) were born. My grandmother had a breakdown as a result of the death, it was a forbidden subject. I never got to know Uncle David very well… his military service was probably the reason; he was a as they used to say… as was my father. Same for his sisters, and his brother Richard. They did not want to be starving artists! My father was an opera singer with the Chicago Civic Opera…. the very definition of starving artist! I was very close to my Uncle Richard and Aunt Vera, also Aunt Ann and Uncle Roy…. and Aunt Tess and Uncle Bill. Uncle Richard and my father were very close, so he visited often. The rest of us all ended up in Florida together! I tried to sign in with Google. I am legally, Linda Wagner Gibson…. Linda Tyler on Facebook…. Did not change name when I remarried. I have the surviving artwork, and a copy of the book…. The Adventures of Jimmy Carrot. It is a charming book, which my grandmother read to me frequently…. and told me about the characters and their inspirations frequently. My email is lindawagner126@gmail.com. I am on Facebook as Linda Tyler.
Again, thank you for the posting. Wishing you all well in all of your endeavorsđź’•