Franklin Pig fy teen T4 FRANKLIN BOOTH A. HARPER FRANKLIN BOOTH Franklin Boot SIXTY REPRODUCTIONS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS WITH AN APPRECIATION BY EARNEST ELMO CALKINS AND AN INTRODUCTION BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON MOMXXV = ROBERT “FRANK @< > PUBLISHER Palehel EOE ON) BASS (Tf FO RS Te Ish To Sta REE Eels Ne Baw ee te O nnn bs 4 COPYRIGHT 4 f >. ROBERT FRANK i 1925 a PRINTEDIN UNITED STATES #. OF AMERICA It has been my aim from the outset to represent the work of Mr. Franklin Booth as truthfully as possible by using the best available means of reproduction. In this undertaking I have been generously assisted by the Firm and Staff of The Walker Engrav- ing Company, who, fully realizing the importance of showing the delicacy of the line so characteristic of Mr. Booth’s designs, have, in making the plates, faithfully followed the original drawings of the artist in every detail. And Mr. William Edwin Rudge, in printing this book, has taken great pains to make it worthy of the artist’s work. Thanks are also due to those for whom the original drawings were made and by whose courtesy they are here shown, their names are mentioned in the List of Illustrations. ROBERT FRANK att are familiar with the signature of Franklin Booth. In fact, the signatute is superfluous on any design by this artist because his style is so individual and so exclusively his own that everyone recognizes it at sight. Mr. Booth is a pen-and-ink artist who produces his effects by numerous fine lines, something in the spirit of the old steel engravers but with fat mote freedom. His marked quality is his craftsmanship, his feeling for design. He creates an agreeable pattern, and gives his pattern its different values by his use of many fine lines of different strengths and differently spaced. He is attracted by architectural form—the architecture of Nature equally with that of man. His cathedrals sug- gest the grandeur of a mighty forest, while his pictures of trees bring to mind that groves were God's first temples. There is a quality in his work that enhances and spiritualizes its subject, and on that account it is employed largely by advertisers who wish to give to their advertising a tinge of the ideal. His drawings are designs rather than pictures or illustrations. They form an almost perfect setting for type. The pen lines of the artist and the faces of the type harmonize completely, espe- cially if Mr. Booth has been allowed to select the face of type and the placing of it. The effect is exquisite and refined, and it adds a rare and decorative quality to the page. Mr. Booth has done more than almost any one man to break down the barrier between the pure art of decoration as applied to the book or magazine page and the same att applied to the advertising page. Anything undertaken by him 1s approached in the same creative spirit and executed with the same sute touch. He lacks entirely the condescending attitude toward advertising art. He considers a pipe organ as glorious a subject as an oak tree, and when he has finished with it, it is. Designs, borders, decorations framing and embellishing an advertising page ate in no way inferior to those applied to the enrichment of a poem or a bit of literatute. It is his sincerity, this belief in himself and in the integrity of his commission, that has kept his work on so high a plane. Designs by him made for advertising putposes are sought by collectors with the same eagerness as designs for less mate- tial purposes, for they have the same quality. Mr. Booth possesses to a rate degree the power of expressing in design or picture an idea, an abstract conception. He illustrates not so much things as thoughts. He is much sought after by advertisers and art directors because his peculiar a HOSE who follow magazine decoration and the better aspects of advertising vee it CE Se . eed f eat Bolas to Lh ey irzf wien 7. cee cor DY oy » =F yo a I .. rn alist? Be ce ay ee and individual style is successfully practiced by no one else. His imitators are man ve ee They copy his technique, but they lack his inspiration. | His two great qualities are his dexterity with his pen and his i imaginatio nt ae His work appeals to the spirit. It has an uplifting effect. It suggests something aha ' just beyond, an ideal almost realized. His fine craftsmanship never becomes mete _ ‘: dexterity. It remains always, as it should be, the instrument for expressing a fine _ creative imagination. a ree hs a 5 ‘ie J ey oA na te : HEN Franklin Booth’s work first met my eye—it was something like twenty yeats ago—I was puzzled and mystified. The pen-and-ink sketches, hung in an exhibition of well-known illustrators and cartoon- ists, struck me—a layman—as distinguished by qualities not to be satisfactorily ex- plained in terms of method and technique. I have since followed this attist’s career with the greatest interest but without ever plucking the heart from the mystery. Nor does it greatly matter, for it is probably best to accept his creations with gratitude for the delight to be found in them without troubling to explain their charm or a certain haunting quality which is beyond any mere trick of draughts- manship. However, after turning the leaves of this collection, I am moved to remark that Nature probably intended Booth fora poet of the contemplative order, but, in a perverse mood, changed her mind and bade him exercise his talents in line rather than in rhyme and meter. But even on this assumption the great mother suffered at least partial defeat, for the poet was not silenced but utters himself un- mistakably in this medium, of which he has made himself a master. It is consoling to find in this age of realism fresh and stimulating proof of the contention of Keats that beauty and truth are interchangeable terms. Mr. Booth’s veracity is never to be questioned; he is almost uncannily accurate; what he sees he presents truthfully and vividly; but with the realization of this comes at once a consciousnéss of the mystical, the inescapable suggestion of something elusive and indefinable that is the charm of all that he produces. He has, for example, so treated a modern city—lifted and idealized—as to suggest the capital of some island—valley of Avalon or an unattainable Carcassonne. Perhaps in the terminology of music tather than in that of art or literature one might more readily find appropriate and descriptive words for Booth’s talent. If he were a musician the violin would, we ate sure, be his instrument. It is amazing that line, unaided by color, can be so employed as to touch the imagination as Booth rarely fails to touch it. The restrictions of his medium ate no hindrance to the indication of space and distance. In the architectural pieces, in which perhaps his talent speaks most authoritatively, he communicates with singular felicity the sense of height and breadth and of the play of light and shadow fading into the light that never was on sea or land. We have in these drawings no mere sketchiness or trifling memoranda, but in evety instance a satisfying completeness and adequacy. With all his delicacy, which can be that of the cobweb’s fineness, Booth imparts remarkably the sense of solidity—in a wall, a pillar or the trunk ofa tree. It may be that full justice has not 9 oi 4 ; Ran <9 OEY i iy , ADA 't es ys id ie Cec ae os tone mye aaa le Sf ar. ; . | been done to the landscape of that Indiana of which Booth is a native son as a stimulus to the imagination and the sense of beauty. Lincoln's spirit must have drawn something from it in those fourteen formative years through which he dreamed his dream in the Hoosier forest. The great number of votaries who had poured libations at the altar of literature in Indiana have obscured the considerable company of artists who knew the world of beauty first as they caught hints of it in the Hoosier fields, hills and woodlands. William M. Chase, Eugene Savage and ° Wayman Adams are of this company and, of the same fellowship, Booth is not without his debt to the fugitive spirit of place as it hovers along the Wabash and Tippecanoe and has found such interpreters in song as James Whitcomb Riley and Maurice Thompson. While living on the farm Booth began contributing illustrations, accompan- ied with light verse, to the Indianapolis News. This was followed, a year later, by three months of study at the Art Institute of Chicago and the next year by about three months of work at the Art Students’ League in New York. Then camea year and a half of newspaper work and a summer in Europe. An artist's biography is best read in his work, and, remembering Mr. Booth’s first drawings, launched from the farm on which he was born and where he spent twenty-six years of his life, I am moved to remark that in fields of ripening corn and in the mixed forests about the old homestead, he found not only his inspiration but was, in a mannet of speaking, instructed by Nature in person in the value of line and in the infinite possibilities of light and shadow. Franklin Booth, it may be said, has perfected his ‘ own method. His drawings seem so effortless—the mark of the tool is so hidden —that they impart a conviction of spontaneity, as if they had not been “done”, but had appeared magically upon the paper. Hete, indeed, is a most companionable collection of drawings, a book for fre- quent meditative recurrence, recording and interpreting a remarkable variety of beguiling scenes and episodes. His work illustrates the poverty of a camera where it is necessaty to capture the impressions and moods of a questing and poetic spirit. It is Mr. Booth’s high achievement that he satisfies not only the visual sense but indicates so often as to establish a characteristic, a consciousness of gracious and beautiful things—of “meadows never won nor wandered in” or the poignant echoes of a solemn recessional fading to silence in some vast cathedral. MEREDITH NICHODRSGs LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The figures indicate the sizes of the original drawings in inches. In italics are shown names of the firms for whom the drawings were made and by whose courtesy they are here used. The vignette on this page was made for the title page of ‘“The Flying Islands of the Night,’’ by James Whitcomb Riley, published by The Bobbs Merrill Company. TZ te, COVER DESIGN . 34x 7% . Booklet : : ; . Hickey-Freeman THE PINES. 10% x 1114 . Poem , ; P ; Scribner's Magazine THE WOODLAND. 10% x14}4.Pom . <= . Good Housekeeping PROSPECT . 10 x 1214 . Advertisement : ; . Montgomery Ward & Co. ADVENTURE .7%x10%.Poem . 4 ‘ : . Sunday Magazine HAPPINESS . 94 x 12. Advertisement : : : _N.W. Ayer & Son CHURCH . 8% x 12% . Advertisement. : : ; . Estey Organ Co. BURIAL HILL . 10% x11%4.Poem . : ; : . Collier's Weekly ILLUSTRATION . 8 x1134.Story . : : : American Magazine THE DREAM .10%x14%.Poem . ; : ; Good Housekeeping ECHOES . 11% x 1434 . Advertisement : : ; . Estey Organ Co. LINCOLN, AFTER BORGLUM . 11 x 14% . Advertisement Billings & Spencer STEPS TO THE TOMB. 11 x16; Poem) : : . Good Housekeeping 14 a5 16 17 18 23 20 21 22 a3 24 = 26 27 28 se) 30 31 32. 33 34 aD 36 37 38 a2 40 41 42 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . Continued DOMESTICITY . 614 x 10% . Article . ARTS AND CRAFTS . 6% x 10% . Article THE LITTLE HOUSE . 8% x 11 . Poem NEIGHBORS . 814 x 10% . Poem THE HOUSE OF RIMMON . 5% x 10. Poem THE HOUSE OF RIMMON . 54 x 10. Poem THE END OF THE WAY . 9% x 14% . Poem THE LILIES . 9% x 14. Poem WELCOME . 11 x 1434 . Poem MEMORIAL . 1634 x 2134 . Newspaper THE PLANTATION . 834 x9. Poem. SOLITUDE . 1034 x 114 . Poem. LAMENTATION . 10% x 14 . Study in Charcoal . Good Housekeeping : eer Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping Scribner's Magazine Scribner's Magazine . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping L. Bamberger &% Co. Scribner's Magazine . Good Housekeeping UNSEEN FOUNDATIONS . 1034 x 1534 . Study in Wash THE GATES . 1034 x 14. Study in Pen-and-ink and Crayon ORGAN . 114% x 14% . Advertisement. NIPPON GARDEN . 1034 x 13 . Story NIPPON GARDEN . 54 x 1034 . Story RURAL ROMANCE . 8 x 8% . Story . A REMEMBERED DREAM . 834 x 10% . Poem. BARTHELMESS . 1034 x 1034 . Advertisement THE POND. 4% x 54 . Fiction. BURIAL . 9 x 934 . Poem AT PRAYER . 21 x 1534 . Poem. : A REMEMBERED DREAM . 9% x 154 . Poem. WAR . 834 x 9. Poem. HUNTING THE TIGERS . 534 x 9% . Story HUNTING THE TIGERS . 934 x 1534 . Story THE HEALED ONES . 834 x 10! . Poem . Estey Organ Co. Scribner's Magazine Scribner's Magazine American Magazine Scribner's Magazine First National Pictures Gems of Russian Literature . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping McClure’s Magazine McClure’s Magazine . Good Housekeeping LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +: Continued CHEATED . 10 x 14% . Poem HARBOR IN THE MORNING . 4% x 6. Story. MARSEILLES . 54 x 6% . Story. GARDEN AT PONTA DELGADA . 5% x 834 . Story THE NEW HOUSE. 11% x 16. Poem ORGAN . 10% x 13% . Advertisement. FLUTES . 104 x 1334 . Advertisement. EASTER PRAYER . 534 x 934 . Editorial WOMEN AND WAR. 6% x9. Article DAWN . 9x12. Poem HAND OF THE WORLD. 9x 14% . Article WHEATFIELD . 9% x 10% . Advertisement THE HILLS OF HOLLAND. 734 x 12 . Poem HARVEST TIME . 5 x 1034 . Article . HARVEST TIME . 5 x 1034. Article . BORDER DESIGN . 1134 x 17 . Editorial COVER DESIGN . 534 x9. Booklet . DECORATION . 4 x 9 . Advertisement . Good Housekeeping . Century Magazine . Century Magazine . Century Magazine . Good Housekeeping Estey Organ Co. Estey Organ Co. Pictorial Review . Good Housekeeping . Smithsonian Institution American Magazine . Procter &% Gamble . Harper's Magazine . Good Housekeeping . Good Housekeeping Collzer’s Weekly Hickey-Freeman Paramount Pictures ILLUSTRATIONS al a ey Vin ver sb r ae <3) uae ; oe as” yo ee == PAROS “ay lt XN GIN I eZ ji itinniesS ee ee SS tainpesses te MATa Dew COVER DESIGN Uae An Lo te oe PT, oes Sage ae i: «, ae {ie Pee ty a i etal. ie i AN \ . \ \\ a 7 me SS SS aie S = = SS -—— SS SS SSSE SEN > : WM ce lpe WSS wns “SQW : SS Q 2 ° H eS) < H ° H ” Ay ss ial Nn SSS ERE ARRAN 13 eo DS) SB e a) Tae ot re Crm eee “Welt, : A. = i} > . ¥) : a = “s 7 aw aly Y, - , 14 DOMESTICITY Barc Zn EAL YL LLL, I§ ARTS AND CRAFTS Hy * SS 16 THE LITTLE HOUSE 17 NEIGHBORS 1 ee a! 4 ‘ip bite in ee ee eee ee 18 THE HOUSE OF RIMMON Wiech riismimmnnon ARARARAAG ERICA ROR | I9 THE HOUSE OF RIMMON y% a: - " om 0 pithy Z haw? ¥ Mg Laat bi ee ae i : p i PCy : "’ soa 20 THE END OF THE WAY Nee a Me \ \\y yil au is ; AN, Peay Yi WAS EAS oo” bZdddddldlb Méin.Y YY, Wf “aati 2 te EE Ee 15a eS Dy U's ZR" 22 WELCOME \\ \\) 23 MEMORIAL =yy Yi WAY SLOTS) / ————————SS SS ——————— 16a SN: —S Wea 24 THE PLANTATION AIC ANIII | mT | HHH / HH) | PLAT TEAL {i} TA HH} | ALE AS M4) | i) ry hi 25 SOLITUDE 20s ie 7 ae 26 LAMENTATION a Z e) H ia) Zi FOU N 27 UNSEE Ms Sas ie fa) 28 THE GATES Wi Nh" —————— \\ . oy Ee Seen TTR) SMD 29 ORGAN eA 1, THY ( nm 310 NEE ONS Gra Eas 3S NE EPO N SG AR DEN en Then eee meat ee Ni mo eae ee Fey di iF Gs) DiS ae iad eer ai Ok : Pn _* bs a he | ~ om g: ‘ eS vs s en 5 ize ? iy ei “t ; d . ‘ 32 RURAL ROMANCE x +> . 7 ’ a ayy by W, Z Ig lt: (| MI 4 |p i a ) SAT RMIIRHI Wi 7aullin ul? 33 A REMEMBERED DREAM 34 BARTHELMESS Ny Cmtcagaipe SEO Bates Book ( SS 3) lee POND pie of ye See F ‘ 4 P'S oe en, | oa 7 r & 36 BURIAL = | Pk =) SS SSS SL = ————————— = —=——SSS x =— SSS — = SS = = == = AMS => 37 AT PRAYER § (yt Pia Pe / / east 38 A REMEMBERED DREAM <=. 3 2 WA R ¢ Afanklin Bos} 40° EWN TING TEE ehGa Rs SS WS —_, —S EE Al HUNTING] THE Pi Giks bie gk foe, PY THE HEALED ONES ie ee YY) y / ) Wi Y Wy ) Vhs Y Y : | os Yj. \ Eyes tienen > ¥VALL. do ay betes 43 CHEATED 44 HARBOR IN THE MORNING LIEBE: AZZ z LZ = Le = SS ds * eye is i aa ) c We (eZ Sit | = 45 MARSEILLES 46 GARDEN AT PONTA DEL GADA 47 THE NEW HOUSE ’ 7 . ¢ i ‘ . 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