Howard Pyle, 1853-1911

By Valerie Kniazeva

We’ve all heard the stories of Robin Hood, the bandit hero who stole from the rich. But would it be a surprise if you knew that he was not always seen as the hero, but rather the villain?

American author, illustrator and painter, Howard Pyle is an artist whom one puzzles over not knowing sooner. Writing some of the most famous tales of our childhood, Pyle started off publishing illustrations of adventures and fantasy along with short stories and poems in Harper’s Monthly, St Nicholas and Scribner’s Magazine. His first longer story was The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of 1883, altering the old classic into the story that we have grown up with today.

Pyle was known for his unique and adaptive style, which not only brought his stories to life, but helped the reader experience the story in a totally different way. Robert May, a Professor of History at Purdue University, has noted how Pyle’s art was special in that it seemed to breathe souls into the characters of his works. Introducing colour to his illustrations in the United States, Pyle was constantly adapting and changing his work to fit his stories, but also to fit the changing times. This makes it hard to pin down his art as representative of just one style, as he danced through American realism, Aestheticism, Symbolism, and especially Pre-Raphaelitism during the Art Nouveau movement. Opening the Brandywine School for illustrators, Pyle shared his skills and perspectives with the most promising new artists, accepting only 12 students out of the 500 that applied in the first opening year.

When Pyle later explored painting murals and larger scale artworks, he became unhappy with his techniques and went to study in Italy to improve his skills. Unfortunately, this latter part of his career was cut short, leading scholars like Mary F. Holahan, a curator at the Delaware Museum of Art, to wonder what else Pyle could have accomplished if he had lived longer.

The Mermaid (1910) was one of Pyle’s final works; it explores the themes of daring piracy, but through the format of a tranquil, intimate scene, taking inspiration from popular European art of the day. Not only did he change classic stories and fairytales to the ones we recognize today, but he also effectively created ‘the Pirate’ as a romantic figure. The producers of The Pirates of the Caribbean films reveal that their main source of inspiration were the works of Pyle, which created the pirate recognisable in our fantasy worlds today today.

With a continuous impact on the lives of children to this day and for centuries to come, Howard Pyle is a figure that has the right to not be forgotten. His imagination and artistic talents can continue to educate and feed the imaginations of all members of society, inspiring illustrators still.

Bibliography

“Howard Pyle”. Delaware Art Museum. Last modified January 29, 2024. Howard Pyle – Artists – Delaware Art Museum (delart.org).

"Howard Pyle." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Last modified July 20, 1998. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Howard-Pyle.

"Howard Pyle and the Illustrated Story - Official Trailer." HowardPyleDVD (video). Published May 12, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE6-zk9_Yps.

"Howard Pyle." Illustration History. Accessed February 23, 2024. https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/howard-pyle.

"The Art & Illustrations of Howard Pyle." AbeBooks.com (video). Published January 23, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al_A5b-YkR8.