Engaging essays on a wide-variety of illustration-based subjects by knowledgable authors, scholars, artists, and students can be explored here.
Picturing Ramona: Illustrations to Helen Hunt Jackson’s Novel of California
Michael K. Komanecky | February 25, 2025 - This essay delves into the history and cultural significance of Helen Hunt Jackson's novel, Ramona, and the illustrations that strengthen the story's characters and narrative.
Bascove’s Shifting Perspective
Steven Heller | March 7, 2022 - Bascove’s work was in high demand among those art directors who appreciated the strength of her black print technique.
Norman Rockwell: The Rising Tide - Live Webinar
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett | September 13, 2021 - This event is organized by the Appraisers Association. September 20, 2021 | 1:00 - 2:00 PM EST
The Red Rose Girls: An alliance for artistic success
Barbara Rundback Venus van Ness | March 8, 2021 - During an era when women were expected to get married, raise children, and manage a household, Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871-1954), Jessie Wilcox Smith (1863-1935), and Violet Oakley (1874-1961) chose to pursue careers in the arts.
Constructing New Meaning in Children’s Books: The Work of Faith Ringgold, Jerry Pinkney, and Vashti Harrison
Lee Price | February 23, 2021 - This essay focuses on the ways Black creatives have utilized the medium of children’s books to construct positive imagery, meaning, purpose, and pride.
Belonging to the Realm of Ideas: A Look at Goya In Comparison to the Modern Day Illustration Practices of Andrea Kowch, Amy Cutler, and Shaun Tan
Jordan Cannon | January 14, 2021 - Francisco Goya utilized fantastical elements to critique, communicate, and introspect. Today, Kowch, Cutler, and Tan exhibit these same focuses within their art through the development of their own magical realities.
How Modern Illustrators Inherit the Chinese Traditional Art Style
Haochen Zhao | January 7, 2021 - Three Chinese illustrators incorporate aesthetic values from Chinese traditional art in their works.
Santa in Illustration
Venus van Ness | December 21, 2020 - Images of Santa Claus in the 1800s do not portray the round, jolly, bearded man that we know today. Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, images of Santa morphed through a variety of looks.
Enchanted: Illustrated Fairy Tales
Jesse M. Kowalski | September 23, 2020 - Images depicted alongside centuries-old children's stories reinforced the message conveyed within the tales.
Mary Hallock Foote: An Artist in the Old West
Richard J. Boyle | April 11, 2020 - This essay by noted art historian and author Richard J. Boyle examines the life and career of Mary Hallock Foote, whose illustrations and writings drew upon her life experiences on the frontier during the late-19th century.
Victor Livoti: Illustration’s Best-Kept Secret
Jeff Christoffersen | March 13, 2019 - A glimpse into the career of a prolific illustrator who painted hundreds of paperback book covers.
Children’s Book Illustrators in the Golden Age of Illustration
Corryn Kosik | June 26, 2018 - A look at some of the most influential illustrators working in 19th and 20th century England during the Golden Age of Illustration.
Pyle as a Picture Maker
James Gurney | September 16, 2015 - Pyle regarded the picture as a stage, and figures as actors in a drama.
Narrative Realism and Pictorial Composition in the Work of Howard Pyle
Frederick Schneider | June 29, 2015 - Narrative realism is an approach to illustration that engages viewers with the content of a story through composition, value, color, body language, facial expression, and the realistic portrayal of actions, events, and character interaction.
Chasing the Muse: Norman Rockwell and the Legacy of Howard Pyle
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett | April 13, 2015 - This essay explores illustrator Howard Pyle's influence on Norman Rockwell and offers consideration of their comparative works.
The Art of Hoarding
| January 10, 2015 - Aubrey Beardsley writes about the relative value of commercial art vs. fine art.