100 Years of Illustration

William J. Aylward – 2

Photos of Aylward are extremely scarce. This is a young Bill Aylward seated on the grass next to Anna Whelen Betts at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1903. Standing directly behind them is their teacher Howard Pyle. Clifford Ashley is at the top, right. This is a portion of a photograph which appears in Henry Pitz's great book "The Brandywine Tradition," published in 1968 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, copyright 1968 by Henry C. Pitz.

"Contrasts," from Scribner's Monthly Magazine for March 1905. Aylward must have painted this just after he went out on his own after leaving Pyle's studio.

These are more than illustrations. They are marine paintings and they are as good as they get. A lot of illustrators have tried to work these subjects but so many of the results look about as real as the ship models they use in battle scenes for period-piece movies. Click on each of them for an enlarged image. This is "The Evacuation of Boston," for which I do not have a date or a publication so I'll speculate that it was part of the group shown below which appeared in and Harper's Monthly Magazine within a few years of the others.

"The 'Chesapeake's' Mizzentop During the Battle." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for March 1912.

"The Surrender of the 'Guerriere'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for March 1912.

"Perry Transferring His Flag from the 'Lawrence'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1913.

"The 'Niagara' Raking the 'Detroit' and the 'Queen Charlotte'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1913.

William J. Aylward – 1

There's not a lot to learn about Bill Aylward's life because not much has been documented. We know that he was born in Milwaukee, studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Student's League in New York City. Along with Clifford Ashley, another famous illustrator of marine subjects, he studied with Howard Pyle. Aylward also taught at the Newark (NJ) School while illustrating for magazines such as Scribner's, Harper's, and Collier's. At the age of 43, he volunteered to go to France with the American Expeditionary Force and record their actions in World War I. However, his paintings speak for themselves. He was one of the most skillful handlers of watercolor who can be mentioned in the same breath with Winslow Homer. The following examples attempt to show his great latitude and great competence in both the knowledge of his subjects and his exquisite handling of color and brush. Click on each image to enlarge the illustration.

This is from "The Wicked 'Celestine," a story by James B. Connolly, a noted author of marine lore and history, which appeared in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for June of 1905.

A Singapore Junk at Sea, from "The Water-life Around Singapore,"from Harper's Monthly Magazine for December 1909.

This should remind you of Winslow Homer (A web search should turn up scores of examples of his work). It's from "Grim Grand Manan," an illustrated article about life on this island off the coast of Maine which appeared in Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1912.

This is another beauty. Unfortunately, it was not printed in all four colors necessary for process color production. It's from "Harbor Voyages," which appeared in Harper's Monthly Magazine for January 1915.

This is another example of Aylward's great skill from Harper's Monthly Magazine for September 1915.

"The Boat Race at New London–A Brilliant Water Pageant," from the lead article entitiled "The Nutmeg Coast" in Harper's Monthly Magazine for September 1916.

"The Democratic Landing at Boothbay Harbor," from another lead article, "Maine and the Summer Sea," from Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1917.

Next: More William J. Aylward.

Clifford Ashley's drawings: 1905–1911

Clifford Warren Ashley died 18 September 1947 in the picturesque seaside town of Westport, Massachusetts not far from where he was born on 18 December 1881 in the equally picturesque old whaling port of New Bedford. He, of all the illustrators who painted wooden ships and iron men, really knew his subjects well from having lived with them all of his life. I think it’s what sets him apart from the others who painted ships and the men who sailed and worked them. Whether his illustrations have been derived from photos or sketched from life, it’s Ashley’s conviction and confidence that gives his work its power and credulity.

These illustrations are from "The Blubber Hunters," written and illustrated by Clifford Ashley and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine for March 1906. Two years earlier, in August 1904, he had shipped aboard the whaling bark Sunbeam to hunt sperm whales on the west coast of Africa.

He studied at the Eric Pape School in Boston along with N.C. Wyeth, Sidney Chase, and Ashley’s cousin Henry Peck; with them at Annisquam, near Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1901; and with Converse Wyeth in Wilmington, Delaware, to be near Howard Pyle whose 50th birthday party Ashley attended in 1903.

More from the second installment of "The Blubber Hunters," written and illustrated by Clifford Ashley. This was published in Harper's Monthly Magazine for May 1906. Besides being a superb illustrator, Ashley was also an accomplished author and photographer.

By 1913 he returned to New Bedford from Wilmington, the returned there in 1915 to work in the studio of colleague Stanley Arthurs, Pyle confidant and fellow student at Wilmington. Ashley and Arthurs then set off for California and returned to Wilmington where Ashley worked until 1916 when he returned to Massachusetts, settling down in Fairhaven, a suburb engaged in ship and boat building and suppliers to that trade, just east of New Bedford.

Prior to 1913 he became involved in 1908 in purchasing antique mahogany furniture and shipping it to New England for resale. In an article entitled, "A Corner in Four Posters," which he wrote as well as illustrated in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for June 1911, he wrote:

“And so it happened, two years ago, I yielded to the greatest temptation of my life and in a short while found myself possessed of some one thousand pieces of antique mahogany furniture. . . .”

He was in Kingston on the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean for this adventure, which depended a great deal on his association with Harry, a local character whose portrait he lovingly rendered.

Ashley married Sarah Rodman Scudder Clark in 1932. They made their home in Westport where they rehabbed an old house and raised two daughters, Phoebe and Jane.

An illustration for "The Christmas Exile," which appeared in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for December 1909.

Thomas Fogarty: Joshua Slocum

Thomas Fogarty is not too well known today. In the early years of the 20th century he and his colleague George Brandt Bridgman were popular and influential instructors at the Art Students' League in New York City. Norman Rockwell was one of Fogarty's pupils. Thomas Fogarty was competent in several mediums but especially noted for his pen and ink work, particularly his illustrations for 'Sailing Alone Around the World' by Joshua Slocum.

I don't have a photo of Fogarty but I can offer some pages from the Slocum book, scanned from installments which appeared in issues of The Century Magazine for 1898.

Click on image to enlarge the title page. Captain Slocum was already famous in the 1880s as skipper (and part-owner) of the famous clipper ship Northern Light before he took Spray around the world singlehandedly.

Fogarty's illustration depicts Slocum with calking tools in hand being confronted by locals at the Fairhaven boatyard where Spray became a reality. This is one of his better drawings but the poses look to be based on photos.

This is a complicated pen drawing that doesn't get a whole lot better even by enlarging it. The subjects were encountered in their dugout canoe in the Strait of Magellan so we can guess they are Fuegan Indians. I wonder where the art editor was when this illustration arrived on his desk.

I don't know what's going on with these faces.

Apparently Slocum didn't want them to get any closer. Click on image to enlarge.

By contrast, this is a delightful encounter made as Slocum anchored Spray at Apia in Samoa. While resting under the boat's awning he heard lovely voices singing in the evening air. Three young women approached, one of whom shouted "Talofa lee," in Samoan, which translates as "Love to you, Chief." "What for you come long way?" he was asked. "To hear you ladies sing," he replied. "Oh, talofa lee!" they all cried out, and sang on, he wrote in his book.

Years ago, when I first became interested in sailing, Slocum was one of the first authors I read. I thought that this encounter would make a great subject for a painting. This is the watercolor I did. It is more whimsical than factual. Click on it and the ink drawing, above, to enlarge.

These are two of Fogarty's best, in my opinion.

I can't resist adding this photo taken by my wife a month ago off Amelia Island, Florida, when Charter Skipper Rhett Holden-Dodge asked me to take the wheel of his 30-foot Catalina sloop. What a joy! Spray was only a forty-footer and I can't image even a great seaman like Slocum taking it around the world as he did in those days at age 51 without the technology we have today.

Arthur Ransome described Slocum's account as "one of the immortal books".

The complete "Sailing Alone Around the World" may be read here.