Before the Internet it was the place to learn about realist painters like Richard Schmid, Andrew Wyeth, Tom Nicholas, Robert Vickrey, and Frank Frazetta.
It was founded in 1937 under the name "Art Instruction" by the two architectural draughtsmen Ernest Watson and Arthur Guptill, who also founded Watson-Guptill, the book publishing company. The mission was practical, businesslike, and didactic.
The first decades of the magazine spotlighted both easel painters and illustrators. The articles were usually based on studio visits, and the discussion always included process and professionalism as well as philosophy.
Mr. Watson went on such a flurry of visits to illustrators that he was able to assemble them into a book called Forty Illustrators and How They Work. In the '50s and '60s, there were plenty of post-impressionist-inspired painters, but the orientation was always relatively realistic compared to the more avante-garde magazines.
During the decades of the 1970's and '80s, as the realist revival gained steam, American Artist was the most vocal champion. For students wanting to learn about painting before the Internet era, it was the clearest window into the world of real working artists.
If you wanted to learn how to paint back then, you would study the step-by-step stages of the painting process printed in the magazines and books, and carefully decipher the artists' explanation in the captions.
The classified ads were the way to find out about workshops, art schools, or new art supplies.
I sent this postcard to the editor on its 75th anniversary, little guessing that it would be bought out by one of its rivals (Artists Magazine) and cease publication.
8 comments:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay
Thanks, Jim, that's a wonderful Frost poem that I wasn't aware of.
The core idea of the dawn beauty disappearing into ordinary colors reminds me of Wordsworth:
"...At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day."
I certainly remember American Artist. I had a copy of American Artist around from the late 1950s, when I was 18,
until the time it was sold to Artist magazine. Through most of the years of my career, American Artist was the only professional fine artist's magazine focusing on representational art.
I was sad to see it go. I was a first place winner in the American Artist 70th Anniversary Competition and a regular contributor to American Artist’s website Artist Daily. Artist magazine has improved through the years. However, it was a second rate publication at the time it picked up American Artist, appealing to a much wider market. I this they had kept the name.
I certainly remember American Artist. I had a copy of American Artist around from the late 1950s, when I was 18,
until the time it was sold to Artist magazine. Through most of the years of my career, American Artist was the only professional fine artist's magazine focusing on representational art.
I was sad to see it go. I was a first place winner in the American Artist 70th Anniversary Competition and a regular contributor to American Artist’s website Artist Daily. Artist magazine has improved through the years. However, it was a second rate publication at the time it picked up American Artist, appealing to a much wider market. I this they had kept the name.
I certainly remember American Artist. I had a copy of American Artist around from the late 1950s, when I was 18,
until the time it was sold to Artist magazine. Through most of the years of my career, American Artist was the only professional fine artist's magazine focusing on representational art.
I was sad to see it go. I was a first place winner in the American Artist 70th Anniversary Competition and a regular contributor to American Artist’s website Artist Daily. Artist magazine has improved through the years. However, it was a second rate publication at the time it picked up American Artist, appealing to a much wider market. I this they had kept the name.
This is Lynnwood :)'m pretty sure I first heard about you for the first time ,James,in American Artist,Fall 2011! I save the best parts of magazines that I want to reread and refer to( easier than searching through hundredsbof magazines just for the "cream").I'm looking at it right now along with the article on Hardie Gramatky,who also became a real favorite and inspiration as well!(It might have been Watercolor magazine but I think it was American Artist)
Lynnwood again...I enjoyed the poetry y'all referenced,too!
Thanks for this history, James! I started subscribing to American Artist in the late 1960s... I had a treasured set, but somehow in many moves across the country I sadly don't have them anymore...but they were amazing inspiration while I was studying with my mentor, Harold R Stevenson (who was one of the veterans at the Art Students League who Norman Rockwell chose to study personally with him, so he got an awesome education!) Thanks again for another great post!
Post a Comment