Geneology of Ideas

These pictures represent a short study of people who influenced my creative processes. I chose one artist that has inspired me and then researched three who have inspired that one artist, and then three that have inspired each of those and so on and so forth. Following its completion, I chose some potential animation, narrative and aesthetic topics I am interested in doing further research on.

This effort was inspired by Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like An Artist: Ten Things No One Told You About Being Creative”. In response to some of Kleon’s topics, I considered originality and conceptual theft. While I won’t confirm or deny Pablo Picasso’s “Art is Theft”, I can say that I take ownership of what inspires me. I honor the forerunners by acknowledging their contribution to where I am now.

“There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Geneology of Ideas_pt1 — Genealogy of Ideas: Portraits

Geneology of Ideas_pt2 — Genealogy of Ideas: Bio-Brief

Geneology of Ideas_pt3 — Genealogy of Ideas: 2020 Study Topics

Family Tree

Norman Rockwell

Howard Pyle (Rockwell strongly admired him)
1. Francis Adolf Van der Wielen (Teacher at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts)
2. John Everett Millais (Pyle was exposed to his work)
3. Walter Crane (Largely inspired Pyle*)
Victor Clyde Forsythe (Mentor, close friend, and contemporary-started as a cartoonist)
1. Frederic Remington (Fellow realist illustrator who previously owned their studio before)
2. Walt Disney (Friend, Camping buddy – also started as a cartoonist)
3. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (impressionist)
Joseph Christian Leyendecker (Preceded and overlapped Rockwell in the New York Times, Self proclaimed idol of Rockwell)
1. John Vanderpoel (Taught Leyendecker figure drawing)
2. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Was exposed to his work. French Painter)
3. Alphonse Mucha (Was exposed to his work. Czech painter, Art Nouveau)

Walter Crane and Howard Pyle’s meeting was in a curious paragraph by Edward W. Bok (editor of the Ladies Home Journal) that appeared in the Brooklyn Standard Union of December 24, 1892.

“One day we’ll be as good as Pyle or Abbey or J.C. Leyendecker.” ~Norman Rockwell from the Norman Rockwell Museum: Illustrated History, An Educated Resource and Archive. https://www.illustrationhistory.org/essays/chasing-the-muse-norman-rockwell-and-the-legacy-of-howard-pyle

Articles and literature to read about the relationships between some of these people.

Rockwell and Leyendecker

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATORS GALLERY – “Norman Rockwell and His Mentor, J.C. Leyendecker”

https://www.americanillustrators.com/travel/norman-rockwell-and-his-mentor-j-c-leyendecker/

Rockwell and Pyle

Norman Rockwell Museum: Illustration History – “Chasing the Muse: Norman Rockwell and the Legacy of Howard Pyle”

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/essays/chasing-the-muse-norman-rockwell-and-the-legacy-of-howard-pyle

Rockwell and Forsythe

https://www.historynet.com/victor-clyde-forsythe-and-the-gunfight-at-o-k-corral-a-new-perspective.htm

http://bodegabayheritagegallery.com/Forsythe_Victor_Clyde.htm (Sources: Ed Ainsworth, Painters of the Desert, 1960., Katherine Ainsworth, The Man Who Captured Sunshine, 1978.)

Rockwell and Forsythe’s Studio: https://www.askart.com/artist/Clyde_Victor_Clyde_Forsythe/6148/Clyde_Victor_Clyde_Forsythe.aspx