King Arthur and His Knights, illustrated by Frank Godwin |
In his color illustrations for these books, he favored rich, tonal colors; his style is somewhat reminiscent of both N. C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish but is distinctly his own. The illustrations from King Arthur are among my favorites; I even framed several of them (taken from a book which had lost its cover and was completely falling apart) for my living room.
Uther and Ygraine (Frank Godwin, from King Arthur and His Knights) |
Joan of Arc (frontispiece for The Book of Courage, illus. by Frank Godwin) |
Bottom and fairies from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
(Frank Godwin, from Tales from Shakespeare)
|
Little John and Robin Hood
(Frank Godwin, from Robin Hood) |
Three Princesses (Frank Godwin, from The Blue Fairy Book) |
Francis Drake (Frank Godwin, from The Book of Courage) |
In addition to his book illustrations, Frank Godwin was the creator of the syndicated cartoon Connie (1927-44), which featured a liberated and surprisingly modern heroine. He took over Roy Powers in 1938, and in 1948 took over Rusty Riley after the original cartoonist’s death. Godwin was also a prolific magazine and advertising artist in the days before photographs took over both venues. He did a whole series of ads for Texaco, including both pen-and-ink drawings and oil paintings.
The cast of characters from ‘Rusty Riley’,
a syndicated comic strip by Frank Godwin
|
Lady’s Home Journal cover from 1919. Art by Frank Godwin |
“Life on a U.S. Warship” – Texaco ad by Frank Godwin |
“As the Petals” ad for Lazell (art by Frank Godwin) |
In the interests of full disclosure: One of Godwin’s grandsons is my stepfather, which makes the artist my step-great-grandfather. I never met him (he died before I was born), but I spent many happy weekends with my grandparents in the house and studio that he built in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There he also had a large workshop, and enjoyed working with his hands. The photo below shows Godwin with a working, 4-foot-long model steam engine that he built, machining the parts himself. I’m told the train actually ran on a track in the garden, though it was long gone by the time my mother and I came into the family.
Frank Godwin (photo taken for a newspaper article;
print scanned & cleaned up by W. F. Godwin)
|
A younger Frank Godwin |
Sources and other links for Frank Godwin:
- The Golden Age: Frank Godwin illustrated books (scroll down and click “Older Posts” several times to see all Godwin’s book illustrations that have been scanned so far)
- Frank Godwin – Wikipedia article
- Connie (comic strip) – Wikipedia article
- A blog about Frank Godwin and the “Rusty Riley” strip
- American Art Archives article, with a lot of Godwin’s advertising and magazine art
- JVJ Publishing: Illustrators article on Godwin, with examples of his work
- Lambliek Comiclopedia offers examples of Godwin’s comics, including Connie, which he developed, and Roy Powers, which he took over in 1938.
- Frank Godwin Facebook page
Red Iza
Those are beautiful, I love the precise drawing and the colors, it’s true it made me think about Prince Valiant 🙂
Red Iza recently posted…Cat thursday #43 : my current wallpaper
Lark_Bookwyrm
I grew up steeped in these pictures, especially the King Arthur ones because I was a huge Arthurian nerd. (To some extent I still am.) But I think even if I hadn’t, I would recognize them as something special. I’ve never understood why Godwin didn’t get the name recognition of N. C. Wyeth, but it’s probably because he did a lot of commercial art, and that tends to make the art world look down their noses in disdain. He illustrated far fewer books than Wyeth, but the illustrations he did are really good – especially if you can find early editions, printed when the plates were still new and fresh. (Over repeated printings, plates wear down and you lose a lot of the fine detail.)
Michelle@Because Reading
Holy Cow! I love this pictures, they have such a great nostalgic look to them! These kinds of pictures are always my favorite kind. I am rather old fashioned at heart 🙂 King Arthur pictures are my favorite.
Awesome Post 🙂
Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…Behind the Blog ~ Fun Facts ~ Happy Father’s Day!
Lark_Bookwyrm
He was a terrific artist, and very versatile. His paintings remind me sometimes of a mix of N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish. And it’s fun to look at the Rusty Riley art; he obviously worked from photographs because both horses and people show up in the same poses from time to time.
R_Hunt @ View From My Home
Love this, Lark. How lucky were you to enter a family with such a talented illustrator with a connection to famous books 🙂 I love the detailed expression of the right-hand bystander in the first picture shown, King Arthur and his Knights. He expressed a whole paragraph of emotions on that one face. And as someone who has a soft spot for whimsy, the Three Princesses and the Ladies Home Journal cover are marvelous. Thanks for sharing and giving me a smile today!
R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…Weekly Wrap-Up 6/20 -6/21/15
Lark_Bookwyrm
I really do love Frank Godwin’s art, and I think I would still love it even if I didn’t have a personal tie to him. But it is pretty cool! My stepdad has a drawing of himself and his father, done when he was maybe four or six, by his grandfather, plus a few paintings and some of the original Rusty Riley strips. I’m glad you enjoyed the artwork!
Coincidentally, my mother’s father was also a cartoonist, though he was younger than Frank Godwin. He did a lot of political cartoons in the 30s and 40s, and like Godwin, took over an existing comic strip when the original cartoonist left – though in his case, he only did the art, not the story.