Charles Howard Johnson (December, 1865 – July 3, 1896) was an American illustrator and newspaper artist, best known for his sparse illustrations of the 1890 U.S. edition of ''The Princess'' by the English poet

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

and illustrating many periodicals during the latter part of the 1890's.

Early life and education

Little is known of Johnson's life. He has born in Vincennes, Indiana in 1865, and came to New York City in about 1889 after studying art for a year in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Career

He worked for a number of magazines including ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', ''

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

'', ''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto United States, American magazine founded by Frank Munsey, Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the pe ...

'', and on some of the daily newspapers. He illustrated more than ten books. He was particularly effective in decorative work, often making the pictures fantastical. Though his skill as an artist was widely recognized during his lifetime. The work "A Young Girl Dancing" (1893, Pen and Ink) captures his whimsical skill. Young Dancer by CH Johnson

Personal life

He was engaged to be married to the actress

Elita Proctor Otis Elita Proctor Otis (1851 or 1860 – August 10, 1927) was an American actress. She had a long distinguished stage career before her foray into early silent films. In 1909 she may have been the first actress to play Nancy Sikes on screen in a Vi ...

, before he died at his apartment in the

Union Square Hotel The Zeckendorf Towers, sometimes also called One Irving Place and One Union Square East, is a , 29-story, four-towered condominium complex on the eastern side of Union Square, Manhattan, in New York City. Completed in 1987, the building is loca ...

brain fever Brain fever describes a medical condition where a part of the brain becomes inflamed and causes symptoms that present as fever. The terminology is dated and is encountered most often in Victorian literature, where it typically describes a potential ...

on July 3, 1896, after an illness of ten days. His wife (one "Miss Gallagher") had died two years earlier, with whom he had a daughter named Gladys born 1887-1891.

References

* *
Johnson's Death Certificate
* Illustrations from Tiddleywink Tale

External links

* *
Charles Howard Johnson
at AskArt.com

at The Victorian Web (victorianweb.org) * * 1868 births 1896 deaths American illustrators {{US-illustrator-stub