Walter Appleton Clark (1876-1906) studied at the Art Students League in New York. His most influential teacher was Harry Siddons Mowbray and his most famous colleague at studies James Montgomery Flagg. The first thought him of good draftsmanship and the second showed him the daily earning possibilities at town magazines and evening pleasures of artistic New York.
Walter Appleton Clark succeeded at a very tender age. If he hadn't died so young he would almost certainly become so important name as Maxfield Parrish or Joseph Christian Leyendecker. From very beginnings, he got notable, if not even prestigious assignments in Scribner's, which served as a launching pad of his career as a book illustrator as well. Below is an illustration from a very important book by J. M. Barrie - The Little White bird featuring Peter Pan as a literary character for the first time.
Many resources credit Arthur Rackham for these pictures yet it is obvious by style (if you choose to ignore the signature) it's all Walter Appleton Clark.
(credit)
Of course, here are a few more interesting facts about the artist:
* As a youngster he illustrated works by Rudyard Kipling, Henry Van Dyke, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The color illustrations for The Canterbury Tales are considered as his most important work. He was one of a few selected artists (including Charles Dana Gibson and Jessie Willcox Smith) who signed exclusive contracts for Colliers in 1906. This agreement guaranteed the magazine exclusive services of top artists (their competitors couldn't hire them) and significantly higher commissions to the artists. Before that Clark illustrated for Harpers, Scribner's, Saturday Evening Post, and Ladies Home Journal.
* The most important characteristic of Clark's style was probably the next step in so-called vignetting. Vignetting means blending the borders of the drawing with the background usually in one of the curved geometrical shapes. But he decided to simply skip the blending and use the already existing white as the frame. This concept was soon adopted by many other artists and became very popular in the 1920th and 1930th.
* His last and probably the most shocking book was Legends of the City of Mexico with six illustrations of eerie stories. Unfortunately, he died of typhoid fever before they were published first in magazines and later in the book.
Walter Appleton Clark succeeded at a very tender age. If he hadn't died so young he would almost certainly become so important name as Maxfield Parrish or Joseph Christian Leyendecker. From very beginnings, he got notable, if not even prestigious assignments in Scribner's, which served as a launching pad of his career as a book illustrator as well. Below is an illustration from a very important book by J. M. Barrie - The Little White bird featuring Peter Pan as a literary character for the first time.
Many resources credit Arthur Rackham for these pictures yet it is obvious by style (if you choose to ignore the signature) it's all Walter Appleton Clark.
Of course, here are a few more interesting facts about the artist:
* As a youngster he illustrated works by Rudyard Kipling, Henry Van Dyke, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The color illustrations for The Canterbury Tales are considered as his most important work. He was one of a few selected artists (including Charles Dana Gibson and Jessie Willcox Smith) who signed exclusive contracts for Colliers in 1906. This agreement guaranteed the magazine exclusive services of top artists (their competitors couldn't hire them) and significantly higher commissions to the artists. Before that Clark illustrated for Harpers, Scribner's, Saturday Evening Post, and Ladies Home Journal.
* The most important characteristic of Clark's style was probably the next step in so-called vignetting. Vignetting means blending the borders of the drawing with the background usually in one of the curved geometrical shapes. But he decided to simply skip the blending and use the already existing white as the frame. This concept was soon adopted by many other artists and became very popular in the 1920th and 1930th.
* His last and probably the most shocking book was Legends of the City of Mexico with six illustrations of eerie stories. Unfortunately, he died of typhoid fever before they were published first in magazines and later in the book.
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