Richard V. Culter (September 10, 1883 – January 15, 1929) was an American artist who gained fame as an illustrator known primarily for his detailed drawings of people.
Early life
Richard Culter was born in
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...
on September 10, 1883. As a young man, Culter moved to New York City, where at age 15 he began his studies at the
Art Students League, learning from artists such as
George Bridgman
George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...
,
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...
,
Frank DuMond
Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teac ...
, and others. Culter devoted four years to studying anatomy and became an expert at drawing the human figure. Later he continued his studies under French masters in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. At age 19 he opened his own studio and quickly made a name for himself, drawing illustrations for the most popular magazines of that time, 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 ...
'' magazine, ''
Collier's Weekly'', ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'' magazine, ''
Harper's Weekly'', ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'', and many others. In addition to drawing the artwork to accompany stories in the magazines, Culter's paintings were featured on the cover of several issues of ''Life'' magazine.
Career
![Fashion notes - Richard Culter + AC-14](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Fashion_notes_-_Richard_Culter_%2B_AC-14._LCCN2011649771.jpg)
Moving from New York to Chicago, Culter joined the Charles Daniel Frey Company studio where, during the 1920s, he worked as lead illustrator on numerous advertising campaigns for such widely known brands as
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
,
Philip Morris Phil(l)ip or Phil Morris may refer to:
Companies
*Altria, a conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the tobacconist
**Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group
**Philip Morris Inter ...
,
Dictaphone,
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
,
Prince Albert
Prince Albert most commonly refers to:
*Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria
*Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco
Prince Albert may also refer to:
Royalty
* Albert I of Belgium ...
,
Hamilton Watch Company, and many others. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Culter served the United States' war effort by drawing patriotic illustrations for the Morale Branch, war bonds and coal conservation. In the latter stages of his life, Culter devoted most of his time to magazine illustrations and was widely sought after, largely due to his whimsical depiction of people. Culter illustrated stories written by famous authors of his time, such as
Booth Tarkington
Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitze ...
. Although devoting most of his time to magazine illustration, Culter also worked on Hollywood movies, collaborating with director
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an Austrian-American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major ...
among others.
Culter is credited with coining the phrase the
Gay Nineties from a hugely popular series of drawings of scenes and people in 1890s America which he published in ''
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 ...
'' magazine beginning in 1925 and continuing for several years. Culter published a collection of these drawings in a 1927 book entitled ''The Gay Nineties, An Album of Reminiscent Drawings''. The foreword to the book was written by
Charles Dana Gibson
Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...
, editor and owner of ''Life'' magazine and a graphic artist with a style quite similar to Culter's, who, like Culter, studied at
Art Students League in Manhattan, New York.
Death
Beginning in his mid-30s, Culter suffered from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and was in precarious health, and, on the advice of his physicians, began wintering in Florida. On January 28, 1929, Culter died at age 45 in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, likely as a result of complications from a serious abdominal operation the previous summer.
[Miami Riviera of Coral Gables newspaper, January 15, 1929]
References
External links
Art works by Richard V. Culterat invaluable.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culter, Richard V.
1883 births
1929 deaths
Artists from Peoria, Illinois
American illustrators
Art Students League of New York alumni
20th-century American artists