The First Annual of the Society of Illustrators, 1911

By Society of Illustrators and Royal Cortissoz

A New York City–based institution founded in 1901, the Society of Illustrators remains dedicated to promoting the art of illustration. Ten years after its 1901 founding, the organization resolved to publish an annual compilation of the year's best illustrations by its members. The custom endures to the present day, and the Illustrators Annual remains among the most prestigious publications in its field.
This, the first of the organization's annuals, features 85 images by several of the most influential illustrators of the twentieth century, including Frederic Remington, James Montgomery Flagg, Franklin Booth, Charles Dana Gibson, and many others. This new edition reprints the original publication's Introduction by Royal Cortissoz, a highly regarded art critic of the day. Past Society president Dennis Dittrich provides a Foreword, setting the work in context for today's readers and modern-day students of illustration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Jun 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9780486847382

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Copyright

Copyright © 2020 by Dover Publications, Inc.

Foreword Copyright © 2020 by Dennis Dittrich

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2020, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1911 as Annual of the Society of Illustrators, 1911: With an Introduction by Royal Cortissoz. The Foreword by Dennis Dittrich has been specially prepared for this edition.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Society of Illustrators (New York, N.Y.), author. | Cortissoz, Royal, 1869-1948, writer of introduction.

Title: The first Annual of the Society of Illustrators, 1911 / introduction by Royal Cortissoz; foreword by Dennis Dittrich.

Description: Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2020. This Dover edition, first published in 2020, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1911 as Annual of the Society of Illustrators, 1911: With an Introduction by Royal Cortissoz.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019050680 | ISBN 9780486842691 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Drawing—Reproduction. | Illustration of books.

Classification: LCC NC1 .N462 2020 | DDC 741.6092/2—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050680

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

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FOREWORD

WHEN American illustration was in its infancy, reproducing full color was impossible. When it became possible, the process was expensive. Artists working for reproduction were often restricted to the confinement of black and white imagery. Some painted en Grisaille —a technique of painting in grays to find a better understanding of values and to allow for better engraving reproduction. Others chose to work in full color regardless of print limitations, and devised clever ways to determine grayscale values such as viewing their pictures through a ruby glass. Without the latitude of color, early illustrators had to effectively design their pictures with enough contrast to be effective as a second generation copy. Ink drawings and charcoal renderings also appeared in the pages of early publications. While the advent of photomechanical reproduction and color separation made the faithful copying of the artists' work possible, it did not make it cheap.

To the new student of illustration, for whom color printing and online distribution are commonplace, this book will offer an insight into a largely forgotten approach to problems inherent with the technology of the time. The images within are by