Masters Series by Fredric B. Taraba

Felix Octavius Carr Darley

America’s first true illustrator Page 2 of 6

In an article on "Woodengraving in America" published in the Bulletin of the American Art Union in August 1851, F.O.C. Darley's work is cited as "combining a recognizably sophisticated American point of view with an exceptionally sophisticated style of drawing." The melding of the American viewpoint with his personal style made Darley the prototype for American illustrators to follow. More important, however, is the fact that "because of his popularity and enormous productivity. Darley's illustrations were the first works of art many Americans experienced." according to the catalog of the 1978 Darley exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum.

Unlike his contemporaries, whose images were reproduced in literature while they aimed their sights beyond the illustration world. Darley "was an illustrator first and foremost. He was a master at setting down in pictorial form the written imagery of the authors of the 19th century, and the best of Darley's work was inspired by the creations of these writers," according to a profile by William B. Stevens, Jr. in the November 1968 issue of Antiques.

The Delaware catalog says that he "had no career objectives outside of professional illustration, and his business was visual interpretation in context with the author's text." It is difficult today to imagine Darley's impact in this sense. We, at the close of the 20th century, are so bombarded by images and information that we cannot imagine what it must have been like to see an image tied to text for the first time.

One of the many remarkable aspects of Darley’s career is that, while he was influenced by European illustrators, he "had no tradition of American illustration behind him. He was himself beginning its creation,' as Henry Pitz points out in 200 Years of American Illustration. Active as an illustrator for nearly 50 years, Darley saw his share of changes in the business. The Delaware Art Museum catalog observes, "He had seen the beginnings of the revolutionary halftone, the proliferation of weekly and monthly magazines. Time had revealed that he was the prototype of the new breed of illustrator."

RE: THE STREET SCENE BELOW

Darley's career began with sketching scenes of street life in his native Philadelphia. This scene may be an example of his early period, but more likely it comes from later on, perhaps as part of his work in the 1850s for New York Mercury. The subject, touching as it does on the heroic actions of animals and the gritty life of the city, would have played well in the least expensive, hence most popular — literature of the period. The flourish in the lower right corner suggests a cover design. Generally speaking, these tales of daring-do included artwork only on the cover. The oval format which would cover about half of the page allowed for fancy curved type to embellish the story and attract the reader. (Courtesy of Illustration House, Inc. Photography by Jim Pratzon.)

A DIFFERENT WORLD

The publishing scene, and hence illustration, was vastly different in the i84os than it is today. Darley's career spanned the introduction of new technologies, the evolution of the modern magazine, and [he emergence of the illustrator as celebrity and marketable entity.

By the time he was 20, Darley was a frequent contributor to The Saturday Museum under the editorial

guidance of Edgar Allan Poe. Generally speaking, the magazines of this period focused on fiction and narrative accounts. Graham's Magazine, The Knickerbocker Magazine, Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, and Our Young Folks are a few of" the periodicals that once featured Darley's work on a regular basis.

Darley's contribution to publishing is more recognized today through several massive projects he undertook, such as W.A. Townsend Co.'s Household Edition of Dickens and Our Country, A Household History for All Readers, for which he supplied over 500 designs. While working on these 19th century equivalents of blockbusters, Darley continued illustrating for weekly and monthly periodicals. His works appeared in New York Mercury (published by Frederic A. Brady Co.), a forerunner of the dime novel, precursor of the pulp magazine, which in turn evolved into today's paperback book,

Of course, Darley did not accomplish the transformation from obscure artist to creative celebrity single-handedly — there were many larger sociohistorical forces involved. Chief among these was a steady rise in the American literacy rate. Simultaneously, major technological advances were introduced in the printing business, allowing books and magazines to be produced with more illustrations at an ever-decreasing cost. Publishing flourished. The medium of "stone printing" lithography became possible. Books even began to feature Darley's name as a prominent selling point. Two early examples were Scenes in Indian Life, published in

1843, and Carey Hart's Library of Humorous American Works, published from 1846 through 1859. Pitz writes in 200 Years of American Illustration. "The superiority of his talent and popularity encouraged publishers to advertise his name and this practice eventually became accepted for other illustrators,"

As possibilities presented themselves, Darley was able to branch out beyond illustrating books and magazines. Working with The American Art Union starting in the late 1840s, Darley created illustrations for a series of prints relating to classic stories such as "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The American Art Union marketed these by subscription and many upper class homes featured them in the mid to late 1800s. Darley became friends with many of the writers whose works he illustrated, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Francis Parkman.

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RE: THE SCENE BELOW:

Having married and left New York for the bucolic open spaces of Delaware in 1859, Darley was much closer to the action of the Civil War. This preliminary drawing appears to depict the liberation of slaves at the conclusion of the conflict. The finished oval portion of the sheet is of modest size, measuring 8'/2 x 6 inches. The movement of the composition catches and holds the eye, no doubt in part because of the oval format — a device which Darley used frequently throughout his career. (Courtesy of Illustration House, Inc. Photography by Jim Pratzon.)

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