• Skip navigation and go to content
  • Go to navigation

Norman Rockwell Museum

  • Visit
    • Hours & Admission
    • Directions
    • Exhibitions
  • Learn
    • Programs
    • School Programs
    • Curriculum Lab
  • Research
    • Norman Rockwell Collection
    • Archives and Library
    • Rockwell Center for Americal Visual Studies
    • IllustrationHistory.org
    • Frank Schoonover Collection Raisonné
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift
    • Become a Member
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Contact
    • Staff Directory
    • Norman Rockwell Museum e-newsletter sign-up
    • Careers
    • What's my Rockwell Worth?
      FAQ

Illustration History

  • History
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
  • History
    • Time Periods
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
Home > Artists > Stevan Dohanos

Stevan Dohanos

Born: May 18, 1907 | Died: July 4, 1994

Stevan Dohanos

Biography

Stevan Dohanos was known as a sensitive portrayer of common objects. His careful observation of everyday things began during his childhood in the mill town of Lorain, Ohio, where he was born in 1907, the son of Hungarian immigrants. From an early age, Dohanos worked to contribute to the family budget, and left school as soon as he could at age 16.

He worked his way into a white-collar job in the steel mill office, and spent his free time copying the pictures on the calendars that hung on the walls. Before long, co-workers were offering to buy his drawings. He charged fifty cents apiece, then a dollar, and eventually a dollar fifty for a copy of a Norman Rockwell Post cover.

Inspired by this success, Dohanos decided he might have a future in art. He took a correspondence course, and then went to night classes at the Cleveland Art School, eventually taking a job as an apprentice in lettering at a commercial art studio. At the same time as he honed his technical skills, he also developed his fine art ability – which he liked to call his “Sunday painting” – and in 1932 won first prize at the Cleveland Art School for a group of engravings.

In 1935, Dohanos was offered a position at an agency in New York. He took a leave of absence in 1936 to work for six months in the Virgin Islands as a member of a U.S. Treasury Department art project. It was an enlightening and productive time: he developed a completely new style of painting, portraying the brilliant colors of the tropics in a manner both rugged and exquisitely detailed. The resultant paintings were popular; Eleanor Roosevelt bought three.

His career blossomed. He was in demand both for advertising and illustration assignments, and he was also commissioned to paint murals in public buildings in West Virginia, West Palm Beach, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He was determined to try for the coveted job of creating covers for The Saturday Evening Post, and in 1943 he succeeded. 

In later years he designed over forty stamps for the United States Postal Service, and served as design coordinator for the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee.

Dohanos was known for taking infinite pains in creating his illustrations. Often they harked back to people and places from his childhood or incidents he observed in rambling about the countryside. Whatever scenes they represented, his paintings were illuminated by his kind, earthy humor and his passionate love for the American scene.

Illustrations by Stevan Dohanos

The VacationersCurtis Publishinghttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/the-vacationers
Nighttime PrayerUnknownhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/nighttime-prayer
New England ChurchTime Inc.https://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/new-england-church
African Native in Palm of Man’s HandUnknownhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/african-native-in-palm-of-mans-hand

Additional Resources

  • “The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000,” by Walt Reed

Bibliography

Dohanos, Stevan. American Realist. Westport, CT: North Light,1980.

Dohanos, Stevan. How I Make a Picture. Westport, CT: Institute of Commercial Art, 1950.

Guitar, Mary Anne. 22 Famous Painters and Illustrators Tell How They Work. New York: D. McKay Company, 1964.

Plunkett, Stephanie Haboush and Magdalen Livesey. Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School: Classic Techniques and Expert Tips from the Golden Age of Illustration. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2017.

Genres
  • Advertising
    • Corporate
    • Political and Public Service
    • Product
    • Self-Promotion
  • Books
    • Children’s Books
    • Cover Art
    • Interior Illustration
  • Cartooning
    • Advertising
    • Caricature
    • Political and Editorial
    • Sports
    • Spot
  • Comics
    • Comic Books
      • Manga
    • Comic Strips
  • Decorative & Applied Illustration
    • Info Graphics
    • Murals
    • Portraiture
  • Fantasy
    • Adventure
    • Fairy Tales and Fables
    • Mythology
  • Fashion
    • Advertising
    • Design
  • Graphic Novels
    • Fiction
    • Non-Fiction
    • Visual Memoir and Autobiography
  • Internet Illustration
    • Web Comics
    • Website Illustration
  • Magazine
    • Cover Art
    • Story Illustration
  • Moving Image
    • Animation
    • Concept Art
    • Storyboard
    • Video Game Design
  • Newspaper
  • Non-Commissioned Work
  • Poster
    • Event (Promotional)
    • Film
    • Political
    • Propaganda
    • Travel
  • Product Illustration
    • Album/CD
    • Calendars
    • DVD/VHS/Videogame
    • Greeting Cards
    • Packaging
    • Paper Dolls
    • Postage Stamps
  • Pulp Illustration
    • Pinup Art
    • Pulp Magazines
  • Science Fiction
    • Creatures
    • Outer Space
    • Technology
  • Technical
    • Anatomy
    • Archaeological
    • Architecture
    • Courtroom Drawings
    • Horticulture
    • Mechanical
    • Natural History
Global Perspectives
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia
RELATED ARTISTS
  • John Atherton John Atherton
  • Austin Briggs Austin Briggs
  • Albert Dorne Albert Dorne
  • Robert Fawcett Robert Fawcett
  • Stan Galli Stan Galli
  • Peter Helck Peter Helck
  • Tom Lovell Tom Lovell
  • Fred Ludekens Fred Ludekens
  • Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)
  • Kadir Nelson Kadir Nelson
  • Alfred Charles Parker Alfred Charles Parker
  • Walt Reed Walt Reed
  • Norman Rockwell Norman Rockwell
  • Alex Ross (Alexander Sharpe Ross) Alex Ross (Alexander Sharpe Ross)
  • Ben Stahl Ben Stahl
  • Jon Whitcomb Jon Whitcomb
  • Harold von Schmidt Harold von Schmidt
Related Time Periods
  • The Decade 1920-1930 The Decade 1920-1930
  • The Decade 1930-1940 The Decade 1930-1940
  • The Decade 1940-1950 The Decade 1940-1950
  • The Decade 1950-1960 The Decade 1950-1960
  • The Decade 1960-1970 The Decade 1960-1970
  • The Decade 1970-1980 The Decade 1970-1980

Support the Project

We need your help to keep this project alive and growing. How can you help?

Submit Work
Make A Donation
About The Project

Stay Informed

Join our mailing list to receive updates about this growing project.

Art Works. National Endowment for the Arts. arts.gov

This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts.

"The great band of illustrators have shown us to ourselves and I am proud to be among their company."
- Norman Rockwell

©Copyright 2020 Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183, Stockbridge, MA 01262 | 413.298.4100
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions |
Equity & Justice Commitment