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Christy, Howard Chandler (10 January 1873–03 March 1952), artist, was born in Morgan County, Ohio, the son of Francis Marion Christy and Mary Chandler, farmers. Christy revealed a precocious ability to draw. At age ten he earned $10 by painting a black and white bull against a blue sky for a local butcher’s shop sign. At thirteen he sketched the log schoolhouse in Orange, Ohio, where ...

Flagg, James Montgomery (18 June 1877–27 May 1960), artist and author, was born in Pelham Manor, New York, the son of Elisha Flagg, a businessman, and Anna Elida Coburn, a socialite. Flagg attended public schools in Brooklyn and New York City, then a private institution called Dr. Chapin’s School (1889–1891), and finally the Horace Mann School in New York (1891–1893). When he was twelve, he sold a drawing to the children’s magazine ...

Gibson, Charles Dana (14 September 1867–23 December 1944), illustrator and social cartoonist, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Charles De Wolf Gibson, a salesman, and Josephine Lovett. He showed youthful skill in art, achieving local recognition as a silhouette cutter at the age of five. His parents and teachers encouraged him, and while still a schoolboy, he worked briefly with the sculptor ...

Hassam, Childe (17 October 1859–27 August 1935), painter, illustrator, and graphic artist, was born Frederick Childe Hassam in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the son of Frederick Fitch Hassam, an antiques dealer and cutlery merchant, and Rose Delia Hawthorne. The family name was a derivation of the original Puritan name Horsham....

Kent, Rockwell (21 June 1882–13 March 1971), artist, was born in Tarrytown Heights, New York, the son of Rockwell Kent, an attorney and mining engineer, and Sara Ann Holgate. Kent spent his infancy and early childhood in privileged circumstances, at family homes in Tarrytown, New York City, and on Long Island. When he was five his father died, and henceforth family resources were limited. Kent was not told of his father’s death and had to infer the news himself; when his suspicions were confirmed he reacted angrily and began misbehaving. To improve his behavior, his mother sent him to a military boarding school when he was ten, with the help of scholarships and financial assistance from an aunt who noticed his nascent artistic talent....

Moran, Thomas (12 January 1837–25 August 1926), artist, was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Moran, a weaver, and Mary Higson. In 1844 Moran left England with his mother and siblings to join his father, who had recently immigrated to Philadelphia. After an elementary education, he was indentured in 1853 to a wood engraving firm, a position he left in 1856. Moran then worked closely with his elder brother ...

Parrish, Maxfield (25 July 1870–30 March 1966), artist, was born Frederick Parrish in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Stephen Parrish, a businessman and and Elizabeth Bancroft. Both parents were Quakers from affluent Philadelphia families. Parrish later took his paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Maxfield, as his middle name and was known professionally by it. He showed talent from an early age, and extended trips to Europe in 1877 and 1884 introduced him to Old Masters and historic landscapes. In 1885, while recuperating from typhoid, Parrish was taught by his father to draw and etch. He began studying architecture at Haverford College in 1888 but left after three years without receiving a degree. In 1892 he resumed his education at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, studying under the painters ...

Pennell, Joseph (04 July 1857–23 April 1926), etcher, lithographer, and illustrator, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child of Larkin Pennell, a shipping clerk, and Rebecca A. Barton. The family came from a long line of Quaker farmers. He left the family farm for a shipping office in Philadelphia, where he spent his early years. Influenced by the work of American artists exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art during the centennial year in 1876, he made an early decision to become an illustrator, much to the disquiet of his parents. Having failed to gain admission to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, he became a clerk at the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and attended drawing classes in the evening at the newly founded Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art. He was an industrious student, practicing his drawing during quiet moments at the office. He also studied etching and lithography at the school, under the supervision of the architect Charles Marquedant Burns. Burns’s enlightened teaching methods led Pennell to regard him as an early mentor....

Rockwell, Norman (03 February 1894–08 November 1978), illustrator, was born Norman Percevel Rockwell in New York City, the son of Jarvis Waring Rockwell, the manager of the New York City office of a textile firm, and Nancy Hill. According to Rockwell, his father was aloof and his mother was self-indulgent, and neither he nor his older brother enjoyed a warm relationship with either parent. His maternal grandfather, Howard Hill, was a sporadically successful artist, active from 1860 to 1870, who painted detailed scenes of woodland flora and fauna, especially bird subjects, and later in life Rockwell kept an example of his grandfather’s work, a small painting of a quail, in his studio. The family moved frequently around Manhattan neighborhoods, but Rockwell thrived on summer holidays in the upstate New York countryside and formed a lifelong attachment to rural life. He described his youthful self as nonathletic, clumsy, skinny, and pigeon-toed, but his talent for drawing afforded him stature among his classmates. In his autobiography, he also recalled listening to his father read the works of Charles Dickens aloud in the evenings and sketching the characters from his imagination. He credited Dickens with influencing his own view of looking at the world. He loved novels rich in characterization and detail, and his painting style would reflect this penchant for detail....

Urban, Joseph (26 May 1872–10 July 1933), architect, scenic designer, and illustrator, was born Josef Karl Maria Georg Urban in Vienna, Austria, the son of Josef Urban, an official in the Viennese school system, and Helen Weber. Although his family hoped he would become a lawyer, in 1890 Urban enrolled at the Polytechnicum in Vienna for courses in architectural engineering and at the Imperial and Royal Academy, where he studied architectural design and aesthetics under the architect Karl von Hasenauer....

Waud, Alfred R. (02 October 1828–06 April 1891), artist and illustrator, was born Alfred Rudolph Waud in London. He was descended from an old Yorkshire family, but the names of his parents are not known. (His surname rhymes with road.) In 1849 he entered the Government School of Design at Somerset House in London with the intention of becoming a marine painter. Although he did not realize this ambition, he drew nautical subjects throughout his career. While still a student, he also worked as a painter of theatrical scenery. Waud emigrated to the United States in 1850, planning to seek employment with the actor and playwright ...