Literary Design Scouting

Found a real gem this week at the Evanston bookshop — Bookman's Alley — called Daniel Boone: Wilderness Scout. Written by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz, and published by the Boy Scouts in 1921, the book represents the pinnacle of youth literature from a time when we more consistently respected young minds and treated them as imaginative, sophisticated individuals.

                         

Click here to download:

Archive1.zip (4056 KB)

The illustration style alone says a lot about how we used to perceive young men. Thin, confident lines reveal pioneers, native american warriors, even the wildlife in the midst of turmoil and struggle. The mysterious quality of the drawing style gives the entire text a haunting feel, in direct contrast to the heavily-saturated silhouettes on the cover and cartoonish inset. 

Pitz's style encompasses much of the European modern movements, such as Corot's landscapes and Matisse's playful human forms. He taught at a variety of Philadelphia-area art schools, wrote many books on art and drawing, and even served as the official artist documenting NASA's Appolo 10 mission (can't find any examples, sorry). Guy had range. His contributions are innumerable.

I'm particularly interested in some of the comparisons to other iconic artists. Like the painter Camille Pissarro, Pitz was a careful observer of many modern and ancient artists and could express himself in almost any style of the age. Here's a few possible influences at work in the Daniel Boone book:

     

Click here to download:

Archive2.zip (1056 KB)

• 1 March 2010
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