American Illustration

The Delaware Art Museum was founded to preserve the work of Wilmington-based artist Howard Pyle, who gained fame as an author and illustrator of books and magazines at the turn of the 20th century. Pyle filled his riveting pictures of American heroes, intrepid explorers, and medieval adventurers with drama and emotion, inspiring generations of illustrators and movie directors. His iconic pirates serve as the inspiration for pirates in popular culture today. Pyle’s popularity was due to his remarkable gift for seizing and expressing the dramatic gist of a story. An articulate and demanding teacher, he communicated this skill to his many students, teaching them to put themselves “in the picture.” Pyle’s illustrious students include N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Jessie Willcox Smith, and other famous illustrators.

Pyle and his students worked when illustration was in high demand. The boom in illustrated publications provided work for a cadre of male and female illustrators well beyond the Pyle circle. Popular magazines like Harper’s Weekly, Collier’s, and the Saturday Evening Post reached hundreds of thousands of readers each month across the United States and beyond. In a letter to his brother, Vincent van Gogh wrote, “Do you know an American magazine Harpers Monthly? There are wonderful sketches in it … which strike me dumb with admiration … by Howard Pyle.” Although they were available far and wide, these books and magazines were aimed at the educated, white middle class in the United States, and the stories and illustrations in them reflect those values.

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Collection Highlights

The Buccaneer Was a Picturesque Fellow, 1905, for "The Fate of a Treasure Town," by Howard Pyle, in Harper's Monthly Magazine, December 1905, Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 1912.

Marooned, 1909, Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 1912.

"However, after six days o' restin' up, with salubrious fruits an' wine an' the meojus concerts, my cap'n broaches the cause of why we're callin' on the Don Hidalgo, Rodreego Cazamma", 1915, for "The Medicine Ship," by James B. Connelly, in Scribner's Magazine, December 1915. N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945), Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 31 3/4 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Special Purchase Fund, 1920.

King Arthur of Britain and decorated initial K with title and design, 1903, for "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights," by Howard Pyle, in St. Nicholas, January 1903, Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Ink and graphite on illustration board, composition: 9 1/8 × 6 3/16 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Anne Poole Pyle, 1920.

The Library, 1905, for "The Mistress of the House," no author, in Harper's Monthly Magazine, August 1905, Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871–1954), Watercolor, oil, and charcoal on illustration board, 27 3/8 × 16 3/8 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.

The Mermaid, 1910, Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Oil on canvas, 57 7/8 x 40 1/8 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Gift of the children of Howard Pyle in memory of their mother, Anne Poole Pyle, 1940.

Hopalong Takes Command, 1905, for "The Fight at Buckskin," by Clarence Edward Mulford, in Outing Magazine, December 1905, Frank Earle Schoonover (1877–1972), Oil on canvas, 30 x 20 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Bequest of Joseph Bancroft, 1942.

They stopped at a water‑hole and filled the ollas, 1912, for "Bob-O-Loo," by Jane Anderson, in Harper's Weekly, December 14, 1912, Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887–1962), Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Ellen F. Wood, in memory of Laurence Wood, 2004.

Cover for Success, April 1926 / Girl in Halloween costume with dog, 1925, cover for Success, April 1926, Katharine Richardson Wireman (1878–1966), Oil on canvas, 20 1/4 × 16 1/4 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Henrietta Wireman Shuttleworth, 2017, © Estate of the artist or Publisher.

Poster for the American Negro Exposition, 1940, Robert S. Pious (1908–1983), Screen print, composition: 20 3/4 × 12 1/2 inches, Delaware Art Museum, Acquired through the gift of Norman P. Rood, 2019, © Estate of Robert S. Pious.

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