Howard Pyle, American Artist, Writer, and Teacher

Howard Pyle, American Artist, Writer, and Teacher
Written by Teresa Knudsen. Published on Suite 101 September 02, 2009.
Republished January 11, 2012 on Sweet Suite Writings

Howard Pyle, American Artist, Writer, Teacher

Howard Pyle (1853 to 1911) is known as the Father of American illustration. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, March 5, 1853, Pyle lived a quiet Quaker life. He loved drawing more than school, and his family allowed him to travel to Philadelphia to continue his studies in art.

Along with the Quaker influence, Pyle's illustrations and artwork show a man driven to share his vision and storytelling with the world. During his career of thirty-five years, he created about 3,300 illustrations and art work, including books he wrote and illustrated for children.

Pyle created images and tales of heroes and heroines, whether lawful or lawless. Pyle was fascinated by stories of romance and of daring exploits. King Arthur, the knights and their ladies; the tales of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, of pirates and their crews and their women, as well as scenes from the American Revolution and Civil War. Pyle became famous as artist, an illustrator, a writer, and a teacher.

Pyle and Van Gogh

Some artists and critics consider illustration to be a less pure form of art. Since the illustration is prompted by another agent, the author of the story, some artists and critics consider illustration to be a secondary art. These same artists and critics might point to Vincent Van Gogh as an example of pure art, springing from the artist.

Yet, van Gogh himself admired American illustration, specifically Howard Pyle’s work. Vici Churchman's Howard Pyle Biography Page includes this section from a letter to his brother Theo, whom van Gogh asks,

"Do you know an American magazine called Harper’s Monthly? There are things in it which strike me dumb with admiration, including sketches of a Quaker town in the olden days by Howard Pyle.”

Pyle is known as the Father of American Illustration

Pyle mutured a new generation of American artists. Enraptured with the Brandywine Valley and the Chadd’s Ford area, as well as the nearby battlefield of Battle of the Brandywine, September 11, 1777. Pyle created a summer school for young artists where they could be surrounded with beauty and history as they developed their talents. The new artists included N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Wilcox Smith, and Frank Schoonover.

Brandywine School of Art, Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania

Pyle offered these classes for free, in which he gave detailed training in what is now known as the Brandywine school of art. As students worked surrounded by nature and history in Chadd's Ford, Pyle described ways for artists to develop their illustrations:

• “Throw your heart into the picture and then jump in after it.”
• "Live in your picture-become one with it-feel its mood and action in every part of you!"

The Quaker and the Pirates: Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates

Though a Quaker, Pyle himself admits to succumbing to the lure of pirate lore. In his preface to The Book of Pirates, Pyle writes, "Why is it that the pirate has, and always has had, a certain lurid glamour of the heroical enveloping him round about?"

An internet search of pirates cements Pyle’s contribution of picturing the pirate’s life, and death. Pyle’s illustrations are either shown or referenced on many websites devoted to the piracy of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, especially in the area of the Caribbean.

Hollywood Borrows from Pyle for Pirate Films Captain Blood and Pirates of the Caribbean

In “Howard Pyle’s Pirates,” there are numerous images of Pyle’s creative vision, often being the definitive image of pirates, and appearing in Hollywood films.

The Flying Dutchman depicts a swordfight between two Cavaliers. This scene is repeated in Captain Blood with Errol Flynn, who is dressed as a Cavalier when he fights the Frenchman Levasseur [Basil Rathbone].

In the painting, So the Treasure was Divided, a pirate captain is dressed in a manner similar to Captain Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. There is the coat with the over-long and wide sleeves, the belt and large buckle crossed over the chest, the low slung sword.

In another painting, We Started to Run Back to the Raft for Our Lives, Pyle's depiction of a man running on a beach, being pursued by natives, is easily seen in Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest, when Captain Jack Sparrow is running from the natives and trying to get to his ship.

Howard Pyle may have been raised as a quiet, respectable Quaker, but in his paintings, he lived the life of knights, Robin Hood, American patriots, and pirates.

References

• Churchman, Vici. Howard Pyle Biography Page.
• Giambarda, Paul. “Howard Pyle: 1853 to 1911: One Hundred Years of Illustration.”
• “Howard Pyle’s Pirates.” Pirates! Beej’s Pirate Image Archive.
• "Howard Pyle, American Golden Age Illustrator." Artcyclopedia.
• "Howard Pyle." National Museum of American Illustration
• "Howard Pyle and Twilight Land."
• "Pyle Studio. Wilmington." Photo by Smallbones. Photo taken at 1305 and 1307 N. Franklin Street, Wilmington, Delaware, January 26, 2010.
• "The Illustrators Project: Howard Pyle." The Elizabeth Nesbitt Room.