Without photographs of every moment being recorded around us, illustrations drawn and reproduced in the early era of off-set printing gave an open window for artists to show us glimpses of these times, even if through the fiction of illustrating stories. Remember, no matter how futuristic and not-of-its-time the original Star Trek seems to be, it still conveys plenty of information about the real-life mindsets of the 1960s… when you are in it, you cannot see it.

“The Great Stone of Sardis” (1897)
by Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell (1862 – 1924)
Illustration from Harper’s 1897, 95, 913; ch XXV
8 x 8 in., ink and wash on paper
Coppola Collection

Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell was an American artist and writer.

A native of McDonough County, Illinois, Newell built a reputation in the 1880s and 1890s for his humorous drawings and poems, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar, Scribner’s Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, and other publications. He later wrote and illustrated several popular children’s books.

“In the Parlor” (tent) 1895
by Lucius Wolcott Hitchcock (1868-1942)
12 x 14 in. ink and wash on paper
Coppola Collection

I have not been able to track down where this appeared (yet), but it is too good not to share. I’ve had it for a while. Hitchcock is something of a big deal in the world of magazine illustrators.

Lucius Walcott Hitchcock is known for illustrator, genre, figure and marine painting. He painted in the academic tradition of the Jean Paul Laurens and Colarossi School of Paris, where he studied with Jules Lefebvre and Benjamin Constant. His pictures were extremely well painted, and he was especially effective in presenting the social elite. His work appeared in most of the major magazines, including Scribners, Harpers Monthly, and Woman’s Home Companion.

Hitchcock was born in West Williamsfield, Ohio, and became one of the early members of the Society of Illustrators; he also joined the Salmagundi Club and the New Rochelle Art Association.

His awards were many, including a Silver Medal for Illustration in Paris in 1900.