American illustrator, writer, and teacher. 1853-1911.

Often called the “father of American Illustration.” A Quaker from Wilmington, Delaware, Pyle began his illustrating and writing career in New York toward the end of the commercial wood engraving era, arriving in the mid-1870s. After establishing himself as an illustrator and reporter for Harper’s Weekly, Pyle returned to Delaware in 1880 and set up shop producing material for the family house magazines like Harper’s and Scribner’s, as well as for the children’s magazine St. Nicholas.

Howard Pyle, The Ant and the Grasshopper, cover illustration, Harper’s Weekly, December 29, 1883. — Howard Pyle, *The Ant and the Grasshopper*, cover illustration, Harper’s Weekly, December 29, 1883.

Howard Pyle, Marooned, illustration for "Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main," written by Howard Pyle. Harper's Magazine August-September 1887. This wood engraving is Pyle’s first treatment of this image. A more forlorn version was painted … — Howard Pyle, *Marooned*, illustration for "Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main," written by Howard Pyle. *Harper's Magazine* August-September 1887. This wood engraving is Pyle’s first treatment of this image. A more forlorn version was painted in 1909.

Howard Pyle, Marooned, oil on canvas, 1909. In the collection of the Delaware Art Museum, which has an extensive collection of Pyle works. — Howard Pyle, *Marooned*, oil on canvas, 1909. In the collection of the Delaware Art Museum, which has an extensive collection of Pyle works.

Pyle’s most significant works fall roughly into three subject categories. 1) Medieval romances, including, especially his own version of Robin Hood with illustrations, from 1883; 2) serial pirate stories and articles, including The Rose of Paradise (1887), famously “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” in Collier’s in 1899, and The Ruby of Kishmoor (written in the 1890’s, published in 1907; and 3) works of American history, from the early Colonial period through the Civil War era. A meticulous researcher, Pyle illustrated Harper’s articles by Woodrow Wilson on the Revolutionary era, and famously corrected the future president’s texts in spots. Pyle’s visualizations of trappers, frontiersmen, soldiers, and other types–to say nothing of his reconstructions of historical events, like the Battle of Bunker Hill–became accepted historical fact and lodged in the American consciousness. Likewise, his visual treatments of buccaneers and pirates very quickly became archetypal figures in the popular mind, influencing subsequent illustrators and film directors. He served briefly as art editor for McClure’s in 1905.

Pyle’s greatest influence may be as a teacher. He offered an illustration class the Drexel Institute of Arts and Sciences in Philadelphia in the winter of 1894 (having been rebuffed by the Pennsylvania Academy of Art). Among his first students were Violet Oakley, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Maxfield Parrish. Pyle started his own school in Wilmington in 1900. He and his charges summered in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in the Brandywine Valley. Long afterwards dubbed “the Brandywine School of American Illustration,” Pyle’s instructional studios became an incubator for many influential illustrators and future teachers of illustration, including N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Harvey Dunn, Dean Cornwell, and others.

Many, many column inches have been written about Pyle, whose influence is hard to overstate. That said, his legacy is marked by a curious backward-looking character passed on to most of his disciples. Despite his avid adoption of new platemaking technologies during a period of burgeoning print production, he remained focused on the past.

The Norman Rockwell Museum history of illustration project entry for Pyle concludes with his transition to mural painting. (Below.) The NRM account is accurate, but does not capture the fall-off in business experienced by Pyle from 1905. He ran a big household, and the work was drying up. The misadventure in art direction at McClure’s was one attempt to respond. Mural painting was another.

“As early as 1900 Howard Pyle began thinking beyond the confines of illustration. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago featured a significant number of murals, sparking a nationwide interest in public art. Pyle’s first commission, for the Minnesota Capital Building in St. Paul, was completed in 1906…[An independent project embraced] academic subject [matter] and Beaux-Arts execution…Several additional mural commissions followed, prompting Pyle’s decision to travel to Italy to study European art.”

Howard Pyle, The Battle of Nashville, 1906. Minnesota Statehouse, Saint Paul, Minnesota. — Howard Pyle, *The Battle of Nashville*, 1906. Minnesota Statehouse, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Pyle’s Italian sojourn ended abruptly with his death in 1911 in Florence. My colleague Jeff Pike has played a part in recognizing Pyle-as-Florentine, described in this blog post at Graphic Tales.