every time i see my relatives, they tell me more and more about my ancestors (or maybe i’ve just recently started listening).
i’m always amazed at how creative they were. like my great grandfather, the illustrator, who started his own advertising business back in the day. the book above belonged to his wife, my great grandmother… who happened to be a concert pianist! i recently illustrated her on the piano, but i’ll get to that next week.
i saw this book over the holidays, which is over 100 years old! i was absolutely dying over it. it was given to my great grandmother by an artist who thought she looked just like the girls in the paintings. there’s even a cute handwritten poem for her inside the book. the illustrations are gorgeous, and have some unreal watercolor detail. it’s called Bachelor Belles, illustrated by harrison fisher- a very well known illustrator who worked for magazines like cosmopolitan… way way back.
more magazines should bring back illustrated cover art, don’t you think?
