Mark English (September 19, 1933 – August 8, 2019) was an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, born in

Hubbard, Texas Hubbard is a city in Hill County, Texas, United States. It was named for Texas Governor Richard B. Hubbard. The city is by road south of Dallas. The population was 1,423 at the 2010 census, down from 1,586 at the 2000 census. History Hubbard ...

. He was one of the United States' leading illustrators for publications in a career spanning from the 1960s to the 1990s, before beginning a career painting for gallery exhibition in 1995.

Life

Mark English was born on September 19, 1933, in Hubbard, Texas. He attended the Hubbard High School and graduated in 1951, after which he enrolled into the University of Texas. He was then drafted into the military during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. In 1954, English married his first wife, Peggy Ann Littlejohn. In 1960, Mark graduated with honours from The Art Center College of Design in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

, California, with a BFA in Advertising Design. After gaining work experience in advertising agencies for the automobile industry, English and his family moved to Connecticut in 1964. He began an illustrious career, working with publications such as

TIME Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

and

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

among others in the corporate, pharmaceutical, music and postage industry. In 1977, Hallmark Cards offered Mark an Artist-in-Residency to teach classes to its creative staff in Kansas City. It was there that he met his second wife, Wendy Buskey, and they married in 1983. In 1995, English retired from illustrations and began to paint for galleries in earnest. The same year, English and his son John co-founded the Illustration Academy, an art and design workshop catering to students and professionals. From 1999 onwards, English's work and paintings were exhibited in galleries across the United States and in London. His last exhibition was in 2017 at the Eva Reynolds Fine Arts Gallery

which was a comprehensive exhibition of his works both as an illustrator and a painter. Before his death, English was living in Kansas City with his wife. On August 8, 2019, Mark English died peacefully, "after a brief illness" in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. He left behind four daughters; Donna, Stephanie, Emily, and Sarah, and a son, John.

Career

English's unique illustration style appeared in publications as

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

McCalls ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

, and many other corporate and pharmaceutical publications. He designed 14 stamps for the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

, movie posters and album covers for

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian in ...

, and

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. In painting, English showcases his style in a variety of subjects, from figures, animals and florals to landscape and architecture. His paintings have been exhibited worldwide in galleries such as the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery in New York,

Albemarle Gallery Albemarle Gallery was an art gallery located in Mayfair, London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on ...

in London, Maxwell Gallery in San Francisco, and have been the subject to publication in four books, available o
his website

Awards

He has won hundreds of awards for his work and has been the most awarded illustrator in the history of the Society of Illustrators in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. including the 1967 ''Hamilton King Award'' from said Society of Illustrators. * 1983 - elected to The New York Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame. * 2001 - awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from The Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

Clients

* IBM *U.S. Park Service *

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

* GE *

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

*GM *

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

References

External links