Franklin Booth and Howard Chandler Christy are two renowned artists of the ages. The main reason of considering the two artists is due to their great contribution in the arts business. Their work led to many people aspiring to be artist. Their art work was also used by varied public Medias in conveying their information. They worked as illustrators in different magazine publishing firms. Franklin Booth was born in 1874 in Indiana where he lived in separation in one firm. His determination in becoming an artist made him study all the artistic works that he could access. He could spend some of his time studying art works from Scribner’s, Harpers and other magazines that existed on that time. During this time the industry had not fully evolved and people could only represent their work by impression images on pieces of woods. Booth could reproduce what he saw on those articles on papers using pencils. By the time he embarked on his career as an artist, the technology had become of age thus allowing him to articulate his work. In his work, Booth integrated very old appeals and tremendous artistry. He could use numerous lines each placed in strategic positions to represent elevated and royal scenes. Franklin Booth attended his school in Academy of Westfield HS and Chicago Art institute where he developed his career as an artist. He worked as commercial, book and magazine illustrator. He was mainly a commercial artist and his works appeared in magazines such as Harpers and The century magazines. He also developed advertising boards for various businesses which includes Wallace silver, Paramount Pictures and Whitman’s Candy. He contributed to the Great War by helping in the development of booklets and death certificates for the soldiers killed in the war. He also illustrated various posters that were used in recruiting people to the Red Cross. Most of his drawings were made using ink lines but they preserved a candidness that was hard to confuse. His personal confidence and sincere belief in his work has made his work still useful to most of the current artists. Most of his designs are still sought by advertising firms. He could barely express ideas or theoretical concepts through pictures as he could illustrate his feelings. Some of the qualities that made his work excellent were his agility with his pen as well as his imagination. His work appealed to most of his fans as it depicted things that were about to happen (Been publishing I’m back Par. 1-9).
Howard Chandler Christy was a well-known American artist during late nineteenth century. He was born in1873 in Ohio and spent most of his early life with his parents. As a child, his mother could encourage him to perfect his work as a painter and rough artist. In 1890, Christy left his parents’ home and moved to New York City with an aim of training as artist. He registered as an art student in Art Student League but later dropped out of the League due to lack of money to support his training. He spent some time with his parents before going back to New York where he got an opportunity to continue with his studies under William Merritt Chase. Chase kept on cheering them up to paint their images in a pragmatic technique. This helped Christy improve his art that lead to him becoming a prominent magazine and books illustrator. His success in books and magazine illustration helped him open his personal studio where he painted people’s images as well as landscape sceneries. His participation in the Spanish-American war made him even more popular. He accompanied the American soldiers into the war where he could paint pictures of what was transpiring in the battle field and submit them to firms that published magazines such as Scribner’s, Leslie’s and The Century. After the war, he painted a picture that represented a young woman. This was the turning point of his career. The woman was called Christy girl and since then Christ could use this picture in most of the magazines, calendars, books and loyal posters. Between the time when the war erupted and 1905, Christy had become one of the most prominent artists in America. He could occasionally teach at some of the best illustration schools in New York. After the World War, books and magazine industry changed considerably. As a result, Christy turned to portrait painting.
He returned to his parents’ farm where he operated from as an illustrator for seven years. He could contact his New York publishers through email. In early 1930s he started falling ill. This compelled him to concentrate on landscape drawings as well as naked females. He developed various decorated screens through the help of Elsie Ford. Elsie had been inspired by Christy’s work and she decided to be a painter (Ohio history central Par.1-3).
Both Franklin’s and Christy’s works were greatly helpful in developing and sustaining the media industry during their era. This is because they helped in illustrating the events that were happening at that time. Their works also helped in informing the Americans on what was happening in the war. Christy went to an extent of accompanying the soldiers to the battle field where he collected information and send it back to the magazines publishing firms in form of images. They also helped in developing various materials that were helpful in training and recruiting the American soldiers during the war. However their methods of expressing their ideas differed. Booth could express his thoughts through use of numerous lines to come up with his images. On the other hand Christy presented his ideas by painting images and portraits. While Booth could express his thoughts on issues that were about to happen, Christy developed portraits of things that really existed or out of his imagination. For Booth his work generally relied on sixteen tipped-in color plates. His work involved use of pencil to develop the outline of his images which he could later complete using ink. This was called the piecemeal approach.
From the life history of the two artists, it is clear that their work was and still is, worshiped by most of the artist. This is manifested through some of their paintings being found in most of the prominent places such as the white house as well as being used in advertisements. Their works shows how painting was greatly valued when it came to illustrations. Information to be published in various magazines required to be illustrated through images. This made the publishing firms seek the assistance from the artists. Through images, one can be able to present his or her work well. This is because most people can clearly understand the writer’s intention by looking at the pictures accompanying his or her work.
Works cited
Been Publishing I’m Back. “Franklin Booth.” 2008. Web.
Ohio History Central. “Howard C. Christy.” An Online Encyclopedia Of Ohio History. 2009. Web.