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<HEAD><TITLE>Howard Pyle Biography</TITLE>
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<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="2" FACE="HELVETICA,ARIAL"> <font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The
illustrations of <B>HOWARD PYLE (1853-1911)</B> are as exciting now as
they were a hundred years ago, while pictures by many of his contemporaries
today look dated and mannered. <BR>
<BR>
Several special qualities combined to make Pyle America's foremost illustrator.
Pyle was interested in pictures, first of all, as drama. As a young man
his initial reaction to a theatrical performance had made a great impression
on him and influenced his point of view from then on. In his illustrations,
Pyle sought to dramatize themes with universal appeal. The pictures portrayed
basic human emotions: the ruthlessness of pirate greed, raw grief in the
break-up of Lee's army after Appomattox, smug pride, humble petition.
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Pyle's concept of a picture was never trite. He deliberately looked for
new ways to tell a story and involved himself in his subject so thoroughly
that his pictures make the reader and eye-witness to a vivid experience.
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Having evolved his basic pictorial idea, Pyle developed his compositions;
his pictures are fascinating to analyze. No area of a picture is wasted;
each makes its contribution, through placement, line, tone or color, to
the whole story. Through the details, the viewers eye is purposefully
led toward the focal center. <BR>
<BR>
Pyle wrote, as well as illustrated, many books himself. He did original
research on the obscure subject of the buccaneers in the New World. It
is from his famous <i>Book of Pirates</i> that our present-day concept
of pirates has come. School children still read his <i>Men of Iron, The
Story of King Arthur and his Knights, The Merry adventures of Robin Hood</i>,
and many other tales. <BR>
<BR>
As a teacher, Pyle attracted a large number of students, inspiring them
as much by his idealism as by the high standards he set for picture making.
Over the years he taught at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, lectured
at the Art Students League in New York, and eventually conducted special
classes for gifted students at both Wilmington, Deleware and, during the
summer at Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania. He made no charge for his teaching
and, in fact, built a set of studios for the students to work in. N. C.
Wyeth, Harvey Dunn, Stanley Arthurs, and Frank Schoonover were among the
beneficiaries of this instruction, and passed along to others Pyle's unique
approach as they, in turn, became illustrators and teachers. <BR>
<BR>
At the time when it was customary and fashionable to study in Europe,
Pyle had a strong conviction that students should seek their training
and inspiration in America. Many of Pyle's greatest pictures came from
his intense and loyal interest in Americana. His renditions of the Revolutionary
War period and of Civil War subjects have since become standard pictures
in our history books, among them Woodrow Wilson's <I>History of the American
People, </I>and James Truslow Adams' <I>History of the United States.</I>
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After Pyles death, his students collected many of his original paintings
as a nucleus for the present comprehensive collection of his work in the
Deleware Art Museum. An excellent biography entitled <I>Howard Pyle, </I>was
written by Henry C. Pitz and published in New York by Bramhall House in
1965. - Walt
Reed</font></FONT> <font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><BR>
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<B>["Walking the Plank" from "Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish
Main" written by Howard Pyle for <I>Harper's Magazine</I>, 1887; Oil
on canvas en grisaille, 20 x 13"]</B></font>
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