Figure 1.--This N.C. Wyeth illustraion shows Jim Hawkins with Long John Silver and his parrot on Treasure Island.
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Figure 1.--This N.C. Wyeth illustraion shows Jim Hawkins with Long John Silver and his parrot on Treasure Island. |
N.C. Wyeth is perhaps the most famous of all American illustrators of children's books. As a boy growing up in the 1940s, I remember that his drawings were especially striking to me. He was the youngest of four boys. His mother who grew up without sisters, dearly wanted alittle girl. Wyeth illustrated boys' adventure books, but did realtively few illustrations of children. His illustrations are marvelous. I remember them in books I read as a boy in the 1940s. I remember in particular Black Arrow and The Boy's King Arthur. He had a way of drawing the most amazing people and events, but making them look very realistic and ordinary.
Hattie their mother raised N.C. and his brothers with what a biographer calls a mixture of closeness and distance. The boys culdn't stand to be serarated. She does not seem to have understood children. She bought N.C. a parlor clock as a preset when he was 5 years old.
N.C. had three brothers. Convers was born in 1882, Edwin in 1886, Nathaniel in 1888, and Stimson in 1891. His mother wanted a little girl and was unhappy at having only boys. Stimson was raised a bit differently than the other boys. His mother who grew up without sisters, dearly wanted a little girl. She wrote, "I always felt and missed a daughter. As a result, she treated her youngest child Stimson as if he was the little girl she alwways wanted. Stimdon as a younger boy always was dressed in skirts. This was not that unusual at the time, but mother kept Stimson in lace collars, white dresses, and curls long after his brothers had short hair cuts and knickers. [Michaelis]
N.C. does not remember being struck by books as a child. His mother unsisted he learn to play the piano. He hated the time he had to spend practicing.
N.C. in particular rememberd his grade (primary) school teacher at the Harris School in Needham. She loved to take the children out of the classroom for walks in the country. He remembers hers as a teacher of greatness. They correspnded for three decades. N.C. entered Needham High School in 1895 at age 12. High school seems to have had little impact on him. He doies not recall any teacger that made him think diferetly nor did he develop any close personal friendships. [Michaelis]
Wyeth illustrated boys' adventure books, but did realtively few illustrations of children. His illustrations are marvelous. I remember them in books I read as a boy in the 1940s. I remember in particular Black Arrow and The Boy's King Arthur, and Treasure Island. No one could illustrate an adventure story with same energy as Wyeth. His villans in particular were classic studies. He had a way of drawing the most amazing people and events, but making them look very realistic and ordinary. [Michaelis]
N.C. Wyeth is perhaps the most famous of all American illustrators of children's books. As a boy growing up in the 1940s, I remember that his drawings were especially striking to me. He was the youngest of four boys.
Michaelis, David. N.C. Wyeth: A Biograpy.
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