Friday, November 28, 2014

A.B. Frost in Illustration Magazine

A.B. Frost "The Power of the Human Eye" from Stuff and Nonsense, 1913
The new issue of Illustration Magazine has a feature on A.B. Frost (1851-1928), known for his humorous pen-and-ink illustrations and his realistic wash drawings of the American rural scene.

I love the early days of humorous illustration, when standard cartoon conventions weren't really established, and "straight" illustrators were finding their own ways to make drawings funny.

The article contains 42 illustrations by Frost, some reproduced full page, along with a biography by Gary Land. He tells how Frost got started with his popular "Uncle Remus" illustrations, and how his studies under William Merritt Chase loosened up his painting style, even though he was color blind.

The issue also has features on Virgil Finlay, Tom Miller, and William Meade Price.

You can order the magazine online or find it at your local newsstand.

Illustration #46
Wikipedia on A.B. Frost
Website about Frost (Thanks, Allen)
On Amazon: The A.B. Frost Book

4 comments:

Allen Garns said...

Thanks for posting this. i will buy an issue immediately. Frost was an extraordinary draughtsman. I grew up with his illustrations of Br'er Rabbit and then some years ago found this website about him. (hmmm. can't find the function to enter a link so I pasted it in below.) Click on 1 & 3 under Coconino Colors and 3 under Zoopraxiscope for some great, hilarious drawing.

http://www.old-coconino.com/sites_auteurs/ab-frost/Menus/mn_frost.htm#

Allen Garns said...

By the way, thanks for such a great blog!

Unknown said...

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Peter de Sève said...

I've always been a big Frost fan. Especially his pen and ink "cartoonish" work. His hunting paintings always left me cold but it was comforting to learn that he was color blind, just like myself! By the way, Hi James. So great to see you at CTN!