Illustration History is a comprehensive online directory of artists, essays, and resources. It explores the integral role that commercial illustration has in the world of art.
The website was launched August 15, 2015, and is an ongoing project of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Their goal is to provide greater access to information about the field.
The museum “hope the website will be an asset for scholars, educators, students, and the interested public, with accurate materials that are readily available throughout the world.”
You can dig into the information in multiple ways; through key time periods, genres, essays and individual artists.
Each artist’s entry contains a biography, examples of their work and a short bibliography. Some entries also have links to videos and related essays.
The website has close to 200 artists including:
- E. H. Shepard
- Arthur Rackham
- Charles Schulz
- Winsor McCay
- Alex Toth
- Chris Ware
- Charles Dana Gibson
- J. C. Leyendecker
- Mead Schaeffer
- and of course Norman Rockwell
Currently, there is an emphasis on American artists but the website promises to be an ever-expanding reference list encompassing a diverse spectrum of illustrators across time, cultures, and artistic styles.
Explore the websites at illustrationhistory.org
Illustration: Mead Schaeffer, Forbidden Lover [detail], 1932
