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Helpful Names, Dates and Information

Below, you'll find some helpful biographical information about each of the currently featured illustrators, as well as some interesting bits about each of them.

Edward Gorey: 1925-2000. Gorey was an illustrator and author, primarily working in pen and ink. He mainly worked professionally from the early 1950s until his death in 2000. HIs most famous work is The Gashlycrumb Tinies, and he earned a Tony award for his costume designs for the late 1970s Broadway production of Dracula (which he also designed sets for).

Mauruce Sendak: 1928-Present. Most widely known for his Caldecott award-winning book Where the Wild Things Are. Though not trained as an artist, Sendak's work is about as fine as you can get. He frequently works in pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor. He also won the National Book Award in 1982 for Outside Over There.

Matte Stephens: Sometime in the 1970s-Present. Matte's an intriguiging illustrator/fine artist. His work seems at once to be influenced as much by mid-century design as it is by graphic artists and other illustrators from the 1940s through the 1960s. He works in paints, (gouache mainly) but also occasionally creates interesting sculputres. He's a fine artists that I hope we see more of.

Amanda Visell: Sometime in the 1960s-Present. Amanda, too, is a present-day artist who appears to be influenced by early Disneyana and the work of Mary Blair. Though she certainly isn't just paying homage. She's an amazing artist/illustrator with her eye on bigger things, an entrepreneur who has her hands in a whole host of mediums, from painting and sculpture to metalwork. She's truly an original.

Mary Blair: 1911-1978. I'd consider Mary to be an illustrator, though she worked primarily as a graphic artist. She is most widely known as the artistic vision behind Disney's It's a Small World ride, as well as inspiring through her work the look of Disney films such as Peter Pan, Song of the South, Dumbo, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. Today, she's a widely revered artistic inspiration with a growing legion of die-hard fans.

Garth Williams: 1912-1996. Borth to artist parents, Garth Williams, nearly didn't become an illustrator (his first love was architecture). It's a good thing he did, though. Throughout his career, Williams created illustrations for over 90 books, but It took just a few to establish his genius. In books such as the Little Fur Family, the Little House on the Prairie series, Stuart Little and (my favorite) Charlott'es Web, Garth gave us unforgettable images that are inextricably linked to our childhoods and wholey unforgettable.

Arthur Rackham: 1867-1939. One of the most collectable artists here is also one of the most fantastical (with apologies to Sendak). Arthur Rackham's talents with his pen and ink and watercolors are extraordinary. He deftly creates almost unimaginable figues and landscapes that appear on the page like Arthurian mythologies. HIs first commision came in the 1890s and he worked steadily until his death.

Harry Clarke: 1889-1931. Though there are some similarities between Harry Clarke's work and Arthur Rackham's, it's really with the fantastical where the similarities begin and end. Clarke was in fact a stained glass artisan who earned a fairly good living (and following) from his almost grotesque illustrations for amazing books such as Edgar Allan Poes Tales of Mystery and Imagination. He appears to have been influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, but his style in unmistakenly his own.