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My definition of "Cool" includes finding, in the course of my research, a copy of a drawing-heavy book called The Look of the Old West, with text by William Foster-Harris and illustrations by the feisty Evelyn Curro. My definition of "Treasure" includes discovering that the copy of the book I ordered to use for Arizona includes letters and cards by author and illustrator to the book's previous owner.
Foster-Harris, alas, didn't write much--and apologized for not writing much, explaining that he was preparing for retinal surgery. ("Don't ever have one, they're not worth it!" he advises.) But happily, Curro was able to be a little more prolific. In her second letter, dated March 18, 1957, to the book's first owner, she talked a little bit about her opinion of other drawings of the Old West:
"...I agree with you on Russell. It is entirely my own idea that Remington was cursed with the same problem of the commercial artist today - lack of time. Many hastily done things get distorted unless the artist has a remarkable memory, and most of us haven't. Remington turned out hundreds of pen and ink illustrations for publications of the day, and it is a constant marvel to me that he did as well as he did. Current illustrators make glaring errors too. Incidentally, L. Beebe hung me for an error in 'The Look', which wasn't my mistake - the captions on the double and single action guns got transposed in the printing. None of us noticed it.
"Most of the colored prints of the past century were hand-colored. Some were done with colored chalks and some with water color; some with stencil, and some free hand. The enclosed illlustration is hand colored. Often these were mass production affairs - one girl to put on the yellows, one the greens, one the reds, and so on, all down the long table until the pictures were complete. ...
"I guess I am an old timer as well as a Westerner. I'll be 50 years old this year (and consider it quite a feat to hang on that long) and was born in Spokane, Washington, and lived most of my life on the West Coast. I consider New York City"--where she was living when she wrote the letter--"Purgatory."
(In fact she lived to be 97, passing away in 2005.)
In her first letter, dated March 12, 1957, she says of The Look of the Old West itself:
"Incidentally, I felt some resentment in that Viking"--the publisher--"did not mention that all the drawings were done with brush and ink - no pen was used throughout; I needed a free wheeling sort of illustration to go with the author's text, and fumbled along for some days trying to work out the best method. Brush seemed to be it. No bibliography was furnished me to work from, and the author and the book's editor were both seriously ill during my end of the job, so I went at it right from scratch. Had to hunt everything down myself in the libraries and museums, and while the work was tedious, the vicarious education I got in the process was rewarding."
I thought these passages were worth sharing--just as I wanted to share the little wagon postcard she included in the letter, but it looks as if my scanner (which has been giving me grief the last few days) has finally conked out. When that situation changes I'll post it here.
Foster-Harris, alas, didn't write much--and apologized for not writing much, explaining that he was preparing for retinal surgery. ("Don't ever have one, they're not worth it!" he advises.) But happily, Curro was able to be a little more prolific. In her second letter, dated March 18, 1957, to the book's first owner, she talked a little bit about her opinion of other drawings of the Old West:
"...I agree with you on Russell. It is entirely my own idea that Remington was cursed with the same problem of the commercial artist today - lack of time. Many hastily done things get distorted unless the artist has a remarkable memory, and most of us haven't. Remington turned out hundreds of pen and ink illustrations for publications of the day, and it is a constant marvel to me that he did as well as he did. Current illustrators make glaring errors too. Incidentally, L. Beebe hung me for an error in 'The Look', which wasn't my mistake - the captions on the double and single action guns got transposed in the printing. None of us noticed it.
"Most of the colored prints of the past century were hand-colored. Some were done with colored chalks and some with water color; some with stencil, and some free hand. The enclosed illlustration is hand colored. Often these were mass production affairs - one girl to put on the yellows, one the greens, one the reds, and so on, all down the long table until the pictures were complete. ...
"I guess I am an old timer as well as a Westerner. I'll be 50 years old this year (and consider it quite a feat to hang on that long) and was born in Spokane, Washington, and lived most of my life on the West Coast. I consider New York City"--where she was living when she wrote the letter--"Purgatory."
(In fact she lived to be 97, passing away in 2005.)
In her first letter, dated March 12, 1957, she says of The Look of the Old West itself:
"Incidentally, I felt some resentment in that Viking"--the publisher--"did not mention that all the drawings were done with brush and ink - no pen was used throughout; I needed a free wheeling sort of illustration to go with the author's text, and fumbled along for some days trying to work out the best method. Brush seemed to be it. No bibliography was furnished me to work from, and the author and the book's editor were both seriously ill during my end of the job, so I went at it right from scratch. Had to hunt everything down myself in the libraries and museums, and while the work was tedious, the vicarious education I got in the process was rewarding."
I thought these passages were worth sharing--just as I wanted to share the little wagon postcard she included in the letter, but it looks as if my scanner (which has been giving me grief the last few days) has finally conked out. When that situation changes I'll post it here.
