Wallace Morgan (1875 – April 24, 1948) was a war artist for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

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 ...

Biography

Morgan was born in 1875, and he grew up in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, where his family had moved shortly after his birth. Upon graduation from high school, he returned to his birthplace, New York City, to pursue a career in art. He studied at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

while working at the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'' as a part-time artist. In 1898, he joined the staff of the

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

and became a full-time newspaper artist covering whatever assignments came his way, including a 1902 trip to Martinique to cover the eruptions of Mt. Pele. During this period, he developed the ability to render a faithful picture of nature with little need for preliminary sketches, an essential skill for a newspaper illustrator who had to convey to readers the image of an event quickly and accurately. After eleven years with the Herald, he opened his own studio. Shortly thereafter, Collier's commissioned him and

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...

to tour the United States and report their findings in words and pictures. Two trips across the country each produced a book that presented a light view of life in America. World War I and Morgan's selection as an AEF artist brought an early end to a third trip. Morgan put his ability to sketch quickly to good use during the war. His work projects an air of activity and movement into scenes of combat. A number of his pictures also reflect his apparent interest in the many columns of troops, animals, and equipment that moved ceaselessly across the battlefields of France. After the war, Morgan returned to work in his studio in New York City. Morgan was president of the Society of Illustrators from 1929 to 1936. In 1945, he made a comic strip adaptation of

Margery Sharp Clara Margery Melita Sharp (25 January 1905 – 14 March 1991) was an English writer of 25 novels for adults, 14 children's novels, four plays, two mysteries, and numerous short stories. Her best-known work is ''The Rescuers'' series about a h ...

's novel ''

Cluny Brown ''Cluny Brown'' is a 1946 American romantic comedy made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay was written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt based on the 1944 novel by Margery Sharp. The mu ...

''. He died at home of a heart attack on April 24, 1948. He was survived by his sister Elizabeth G. Morgan, who had the same address. File:Wallace Morgan 001f.jpg, Morgan on May 23, 1913 at his studio

References

External links

* * * (1905 to 1945) {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Wallace 1875 births 1948 deaths Artists from New York (state) United States Army artists World War I artists American illustrators American comics artists The New Yorker cartoonists Presidents of the Society of Illustrators