Rea Irvin (August 26, 1881 – May 28, 1972) was an American graphic artist. Although never formally credited as such, he served de facto as the first art editor of The New Yorker . He created the Eustace Tilley cover portrait and the New Yorker typeface. He first drew Tilley for the cover of the magazine's first issue on February 21, 1925. Tilley appeared annually on the magazine's cover every February until 1994.[1][2] As one commentator has written, "a truly modern bon vivant, Irvin was also a keen appreciator of the century of his birth. His high regard for both the careful artistry of the past and the gleam of the modern metropolis shines from the very first issue of the magazine ..."[3]
Born in San Francisco, he studied at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute for six months, started his career as an unpaid cartoonist for The San Francisco Examiner .[4] He also contributed to the San Francisco Evening Post . He also worked as an itinerant actor (for both stage and screen), newspaper illustrator, and piano player.[3] In 1906 he moved to the East Coast. In the 1910s he contributed many illustrations to both Red Book magazine and its sister publication, Green Book .[4]
Before World War I, Irvin contributed illustrations regularly to Life , and rose to the position of art editor. (Life the humorous weekly, and not to be confused with the more famous magazine of the same name published by Henry Luce). Irvin also contributed to Cosmopolitan when it was a serious literary publication. He illustrated Wallace Irwin's "Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy" in Life .[5] He would later incorporate Japanese imagery in satirical kakemono for The New Yorker .[5]
He also created a series of humorous advertisements for Murad (turkish tobacco cigarettes).[5]
He also contributed the illustrations for "Snoot If You Must," by Lucius Beebe, a noted raconteur of New York's cafe society (1943, D. Appleton-Century).
He was fired from his position as art editor at Life in 1924.
However, Irvin had joined an advisory board to help launch The New Yorker and then worked on the magazine's staff as an illustrator and art editor. When he had first taken the job, Irvin had assumed that the magazine would fold after a few issues,[4] but his work would ultimately appear on the cover of 169 issues of The New Yorker between 1925 and 1958.[6]
The magazine's first cover, of a dandy peering at a butterfly through a monocle, was drawn by Irvin; the dandy replaced at the last minute a drawing of theater curtains revealing the skyline of Manhattan.[3] The gentleman on the original cover is referred to as "Eustace Tilley," a character created for The New Yorker by Corey Ford. Another example is the piece known as The Unity of the Allied Nations , which appeared on the cover of the July 1, 1944 issue, and depicts the national personifications of the Allies (the American Eagle, the Chinese Dragon, the Russian Bear and the British Lion).[6]
Besides covers for the magazine, Irvin also drew various illustrations, department headings, caricatures, and cartoons.[3]
The New Yorker signature display typeface, used for its nameplate and headlines and the masthead above The Talk of the Town section, is called "Irvin" or "Irvin type," after him.[7] An alphabet drawn by the American etcher Allen Lewis, who had received training in woodcutting in Paris, was used as the typographical basis for the "Irvin type."[3] Irvin may have spotted Lewis' lettering, which was drawn to imitate a woodcut, in a pamphlet entitled "Journeys To Bagdad", and liked it so much that Irvin asked Lewis to create the entire alphabet.[3] Uninterested in this project, Lewis suggested that Irvin create the alphabet himself –this became the "Irvin type."[3]
He also added the New Yorker's squiggly column rules; these provide a delineation between the text and illustrations.[6] He was also responsible for the vertical "cover strap" that was used for the magazine's margins.[3]
According to James Thurber, "the invaluable Irvin, artist, ex-actor, wit, and sophisticate about town and country, did more to develop the style and excellence of The New Yorker's drawings and covers than anyone else, and was the main and shining reason that the magazine's comic art in the first two years was far superior to its humorous prose."[8] Emily Gordon has written that "Irvin's own intimacy with classic form and craft, and his genial willingness to share that expertise ... allowed him to create a complete device: a design, a typeface, a style, and a mood that would be instantly recognizable, and eminently effective, almost a century later."[3]
Irvin also created the comic strip The Smythes . It ran in the New York Herald Tribune during the early 1930s.[4][9]
Last week famed Cartoonist Rea Irvin broke into the "funnies" with a new full-page Sunday series ... His title is "The Smythes;" his characters, the conventional father, mother, small son & daughter, Pekinese pup; his theme, the conventional burlesque of U. S. middle-class home life. Sample episode: Mrs. Smythe insists upon buying Pekinese, to utter disgust of Mr. Smythe who snorts, "I don't know what you can see in that mutt." Mrs. Smythe, in desperation, goes to bed. Later, Tootums (the Pekinese) awakes and sneezes. Unable to arouse his wife, Smythe arises, grudgingly walks the floor with Tootums, finally melts, talks baby-talk to Tootums, nurses it back to sleep. Whereupon Mrs. Smythe, awake, triumphantly mocks her husband: "I don't know what you can see in that mutt!"
—?Life , June 23, 1930, [5]Six years before his death, Irvin and his wife retired to a home in Frederiksted, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.[10] He died of a stroke there at age 90 on May 28, 1972.
The Lozier Motor Company was a brass era producer of luxury automobiles in the United States. The company produced automobiles from 1900 to 1918, in Plattsburgh, New York and from 1910, at Detroit, Michigan.[1]
Lozier Motor Company was founded by Henry Abram Lozier, an Indiana-born sewing machine and bicycle manufacturer. After selling his bicycle business, Lozier moved to Plattsburgh to manufacture boat engines. In 1900, he entered the automobile business. At his death in 1903, his son Harry took over the company.
Loziers were luxury cars and for a time were the most expensive cars produced in the United States. The 1910 model line featured cars priced between $4,600 and $7,750, (equivalent to $243,405 in 2022).[1]
The company was moved to Detroit in 1910. In 1911, a Lozier was entered into the first running of the Indianapolis 500. The car, in the hands of Ralph Mulford, finished second in a controversial scoring decision and many observers felt Mulford's Lozier had actually won the race.[1] On March 19 the same year, Lozier ads claimed, a stock 49 hp (37 kW) model piloted by Teddy Tetzlaff set a world record for 100 mi (160 km) at 1:14:29.[2] The company developed its braking system using pressurized water to cool hollowed brake drums. This led to claims that Lozier's brakes were "impossible to burn out".[3]
The company faced new pressures as more manufacturers entered the luxury market. Frederick C. Chandler, Lozier's top designer, left the company in 1913 and formed the Chandler Motor Company which produced cars similar to the Lozier but at a substantially lower sales price. Chandler took several top company executives with him producing a brain drain from which the company never recovered.[1]
At the 1913 Los Angeles Motordrome, the company introduced the 88 hp (66 kW) Big Six , with electric headlights, with tourers and roadsters at US$5,000, limousines and landaulettes at US$6,500. It was joined by the 52 hp (40 kW) Light Six Metropolitan , with electric starter and lights; the tourer and runabout were US$3,250, coupe US$3,850, and limousine US$4,450.[2][4]
Because of Lozier's limited market niche, the company only produced a few thousand cars during its lifespan. Production peaked in the 1912 model year at 600 cars.[1]
Lozier tried to expand into the mid-priced car market and in 1914 offered a four-cylinder car priced at US$2,000. The new four was not a sales success and company finances continued to falter. After a failed attempt to merge with Ford Motor Company, the company declared bankruptcy in 1915. Attempted re-organizations and production continued sporadically up to 1918.[1]
George Fort Gibbs (March 8, 1870 – October 10, 1942) was an American author, illustrator, artist, and screenwriter. As an author, he wrote more than 50 popular books, primarily adventure stories revolving around espionage in exotic locations. Several of his books were made into films. His illustrations appeared prominently in such magazines as The Saturday Evening Post , Ladies' Home Journal , Redbook and The Delineator . He also illustrated some of his own novels, and the novels of others. As a painter he produced many portraits, and painted murals for Pennsylvania Station and Girard College in Philadelphia. His screenwriting credits include a film about the life of Voltaire.
George Gibbs was born in 1870 in New Orleans.[1] His father, Benjamin F. Gibbs, was a naval surgeon with the ironclad fleet stationed there.[2] Dr. Gibbs had seen much adventure in his naval career. He had taken part in the Paraguay Expedition aboard the USS Mystic . During the American Civil War, he had taken part in the battle of Mobile Bay aboard the steam-sloop USS Ossipee and had been aboard one of the ships that chased the CSS Webb on its dash down the Mississippi.[3]
In mid-war, on February 25, 1864, Dr. Gibbs married Elizabeth Beatrice Kellogg.[4] The bride's father, Major George Kellogg, was a homeopathic doctor brought to occupied New Orleans by General Nathaniel P. Banks, commander of the Army of the Gulf, and assigned to various duties as army surgeon, and as medical advisor to the family of General Banks.[5] Nine months after their marriage, Mrs. Gibbs gave birth to a daughter, Julie Aline Gibbs. In 1870 a son, George Fort Gibbs, was born.
Dr. Gibbs continued to rise in the navy, ultimately attaining the rank of Medical Inspector and being designated Fleet Surgeon of the European Squadron on August 20, 1881.[6] He took Elizabeth, Aline and George with him, settling them in Geneva, where George was enrolled as a student at the Chateau de Lancy for two years.[1][7] Chateau de Lancy also educated such men as William Carlos Williams, Sir Harold Acton and Hamilton Fish.[8] In September 1882, while aboard the USS Lancaster sailing for Trieste, Dr. Gibbs became seriously ill. According to one source he was probably suffering from "malarial fever".[9] When the ship reached port, he was immediately moved to a hospital, where he died on September 9.[9] His son George was twelve years old at the time.
Elizabeth Gibbs was extremely distraught over her husband's death. The family returned to the United States in November 1883, debarking in New York and then taking a train bound for Washington, D.C., where Elizabeth's father awaited them. George was then thirteen years old, and Aline eighteen. The children were concerned about their mother, who had expressed thoughts of suicide. As the train approached Union Station (at the site of what is now Penn Station) in Baltimore, Elizabeth left her children and entered the ladies' restroom. She was gone for a long time, and the children began to worry. When the train arrived at the station they tried the door of the restroom, but it was locked. George climbed up to a transom and looked in, only to find the room empty, and its window open.[10]
The children notified railroad officials, who sent an engine back down the tracks to look for Elizabeth. Aline went ahead to D.C., to meet with her grandfather, and George stayed behind with the searchers. Later that day Aline received a telegram from George, telling her that their mother had been found lying on the tracks a few miles from the station. Her skull was fractured, and she was taken to a hospital, where she died soon after. She had apparently climbed six feet up to the window and leapt from the train, landing on her head.[10]
Following in his father's footsteps, George Gibbs entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1886, but he resigned in 1888.[11] According to critic Grant Overton, Gibbs "generally neglected trigonometry in favor of a sketch book and the writing of verses."[12] While at Annapolis, he contributed drawings, poems and songs to Junk , the Naval Academy yearbook of that era (forerunner of the Lucky Bag , which began publication in 1894 and continues to today), and he edited a collection of material from past editions of Junk after he left the Academy.[1][13] Gibbs also played football at the Academy, "in the gridiron days of skull caps and padless knickers".[14]
After leaving Annapolis, Gibbs returned to Washington and began taking night classes at the Corcoran School of Art and the Art Students' League.[11] He was active in the Washington Watercolor Club and the Society of Washington Artists. By August 1897 he was Treasurer of the Society of Washington Artists, collecting contributions for a fund to open a gallery for the Society.[15] Works by Gibbs and other Washington artists were exhibited in the new gallery at its opening in November of the same year.[16] By 1898, Gibbs was Vice President of the Society.[17]
To support himself during this time, he began writing articles "on science and naval themes" for the Sunday editions of the New York Sun and New York Times .[1][12] (He also tried his hand at writing short stories, but with little success.[12])
By 1891 he was also supporting himself through another enterprise. Together with Frank B. Jonas, Gibbs formed the "Jonas-Gibbs & Co." real estate firm. Frank Jonas was the son of Louisiana Senator Benjamin F. Jonas and cousin of Charles H. Jonas Jr., who married George Gibbs' sister Aline in 1893. One of the Jonas-Gibbs newspaper ads promised "We are prepared to furnish plans and estimates for buildings of every description, and to guarantee satisfaction."[18] The firm seems to have had an arrangement with "Woods & Co., bankers" to finance new construction. A newspaper account of a Jonas-Gibbs project reports the remodeling of a house on F street, including erecting a "new front of press brick and Ohio stone" and "a large iron vault" in the rear.[19]
By 1896 Gibbs was having some success as a professional illustrator. His first magazine sale had been made sometime shortly after 1892. It was an illustration for the newly created Vogue , and he was paid ten dollars for it.[20] In May 1896, the Washington Morning Times reported that "Mr. George Gibbs is engaged on illustrations for 'navy stories,' by Charles Ledyard Norton, and 'Above the Range,' by Theodora R. Jenness, published by Wilde & Co. of Boston. A series of studies about the Capitol and White House for 'Once a Week' are also on the easel."[21]
In September, the Washington Morning Times reported that Gibbs was setting off for New York with a portfolio of naval illustrations for a publication called The Navy, Old and New ,[22] and in May 1897 the Washington Times reported that Gibbs "has just completed a series of seven spirited illustrations for the life of Commodore Bainbridge".[23] The resulting book was Commodore Bainbridge: From the Gunroom to the Quarterdeck , by James Barnes.[24]
In 1898, Gibbs moved to Philadelphia[11] at the invitation of Cyrus Curtis, founder of the Curtis Publishing Company. There, he created cover and interior illustrations for such Curtis publications as the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal . Among his early accomplishments was the first color cover for the Saturday Evening Post , which adorned the December 30, 1899, issue of the magazine.[25][26] He also wrote "art critiques and editorials, short stories, etc." for the Saturday Evening Post .[27][28] For a while, Gibbs shared a studio with illustrator Guernsey Moore,[29] the creator of the typeface (called "Post Old Style") used in the Saturday Evening Post logo. An obituary for Moore credits him, rather than Gibbs, as the creator of the first color cover for the Post .[29] Gibbs and fellow illustrator Mills Thompson were among the first to employ the services of model Evelyn Nesbit, who would later become famous after her involvement with architect Stanford White led to his murder by Nesbit's husband.[30]
In April 1901, Gibbs married Maud Stovell Harrison (1878–1973), a classically trained pianist[31] and daughter of a prominent Philadelphia family. The bride's father, Theodore L. Harrison, was the son of Joseph Harrison Jr., an engineer and railroad magnate who had, in 1843, received a $3,000,000 contract from the Russian government to construct locomotives and rolling stock for the St. Petersburg and Moscow railway.[32] Theodore Harrison had a "wedding cottage"[33] named "The Orchard" built for the couple on the Harrison family property in Rosemont, near Philadelphia. This was to be George Gibbs' home for the remainder of his life.
After his marriage, Gibbs' career as an author blossomed. From 1901 until his death in 1942, he reliably turned out novels at a rate of about one per year.[34] By 1916 newspapers were speaking of Mr. Gibbs' "annual novel".[35] Many of these novels were serialized in newspapers and magazines before being published in book form.[28] His books were primarily adventure novels, in the vein of John Buchan or E. Philips Oppenheim, often involving international intrigue. For example, his novel The Black Stone (1919) is reminiscent of John Buchan's Greenmantle (1916). Both novels involve a sacred stone, and deal with an effort to thwart a German plot to provoke an Arab insurrection.[citation needed ]
Gibbs continued to illustrate his own and other authors' books,[34] and to create illustrations for many magazines and newspapers. He also pursued a growing career as a painter.
In time, Gibbs became a pillar of the community and a well-known member of Philadelphia society. When G.K. Chesterton visited Philadelphia in 1921, he stayed at the Gibbs' home.[36] The 1936–37 edition of Who's Who in America notes that Gibbs was a member of the Art Club of Philadelphia, The Franklin Inn Club, the Pegasus Club, the Merion Cricket Club and the Rittenhouse Club.[37] During Chesterton's visit, Gibbs took him to lunch at the Franklin Inn club.[38][39] In 1909, Gibbs discovered a fire in the clubhouse of the Merion Cricket Club, and helped organize a bucket brigade to put it out.[40] Gibbs participated in amateur theatrical productions, in one instance dressing in feathers to play Chanticleer: "We made it a sort of satire on modern letters, with Chantecler chasing Rostand and Ibsen haunted by his characters, and so on. It was very good fun."[14] Gibbs served on juries for many art exhibitions[41][42][43] alongside fellow artists including Frederic Remington and A. B. Frost. The 1925 Haverford College yearbook notes that Gibbs, "the well-known painter and writer of best-sellers", had addressed that school's English Club on the subject of "Writing Novels".[44]
Gibbs was for many years a vestryman of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont. In 1929 he created seven paintings for the church's High Altar reredos as a memorial to his parents. The center panel was a Virgin and Child, flanked by panels depicting other biblical figures from the Old and New Testaments.[45]
By 1915 film makers had begun adapting Gibbs' novels for the screen. The first film based on a Gibbs novel was The Flaming Sword , produced by Rolfe Photoplays, a company that had been founded the previous year by B. A. Rolfe. This was the company's ninth feature film. It starred a young Lionel Barrymore. Between 1915 and 1926 ten films were based on Gibbs novels. In later years, Gibbs collaborated with lawyer E. Lawrence Dudley to write a "novel" about Voltaire at the request of George Arliss, intended to be the basis for a film. After several false starts, the film was finally produced in 1933. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.[46]
George Gibbs died on October 10, 1942, after a long illness.[1] He was buried on October 14 in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[47][48]
George Fort Gibbs Jr. (1902–1988) was a member of the Princeton University class of 1923.[49] While there, he participated in college musical groups, serving as leader of the "Banjo Club", for example.[49] The 1930 census lists him as a "play writer" living with his parents in Rosemont,[50] and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries lists a 1933 play called "This New Deal" authored by George F. Gibbs Jr., and M. Mark Sulkes.[51] George Gibbs Jr. ultimately moved to Venice, Florida, where he became a real estate developer.[52] He continued to be known as an amateur musician, and was one of the founders of what is now called the Sarasota Orchestra.[53]
Theodore Harrison Gibbs (1908–1944) was a well-regarded sculptor. In 1938 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome fellowship [54] and travelled to Rome to work at the American Academy. There, he met and married his wife, sculptor Maurine Montgomery. After the couple moved back to the United States, Harrison enlisted in the military and served in France during World War II. When he left the United States, Maurine was pregnant with their daughter Romona. Harrison was killed in 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. Maurine and Romona were frequent visitors at "The Orchard". A large stone barn on the property was used as a sculpture studio by Harrison and Maurine. In 2011 the property was finally sold out of the family and many works of art by Harrison, Maurine and other family members were dispersed to museums and other new locations.[55]
Sarah (Sally) Stovell Gibbs McClure (1912–2006) was a dancer, singer, songwriter and author of poems, novels and plays.[31] At the age of nineteen she produced a book of poems called Beauty for Ashes .[56] In 1928, when she was sixteen, she danced in the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company's production of Carmen .[57] By 1934 she was singing and acting on Broadway in Life Begins at 8:40 , a musical revue by Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg.[58] She married Navy test pilot Howard McClure in 1941. McClure died in 1960, at which point Sally moved back to "The Orchard" to care for her mother (who lived until 1973), and remained there until her own death in 2006. While at "The Orchard" she taught flamenco and hula dancing. She was the last of her family to occupy the property. Toward the end of her life she wrote and self-published a fictionalized memoir titled Main Line Maverick .[59]
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