Arthur Burdett Frost (January 17, 1851 – June 22, 1928), usually cited as A. B. Frost, was an American illustrator, graphic artist, painter and comics writer. He is best known for his illustrations of

Brer Rabbit Br'er Rabbit (an abbreviation of ''Brother Rabbit'', also spelled Brer Rabbit) is a central figure in an oral tradition passed down by African-Americans of the Southern United States and African descendants in the Caribbean, notably Afro-Baham ...

and other characters in the

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a planta ...

Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post-Reconstruction era Atlanta, a ...

books. Frost's work is known for its dynamic representation of motion and sequence and for his realistic hunting, shooting and golfing prints. He illustrated over 90 books, produced hundreds of paintings and was a pioneer in the development of

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

s. He was admitted posthumously to the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

' Hall of Fame in 1985.

Career

Frost was born January 17, 1851, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, the eldest of ten children. His father, John Frost, was a historian, biographer and literature professor. At the age of fifteen, he worked as an intern at a local business that taught him engraving and lithography. He was mostly self taught but did study under

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

, with Gilbert Tucker Margeson in Massachusetts and with

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. ...

at the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art. In 1874 he was asked by a friend to illustrate a book of humorous short stories, "Out of the Hurly Burly", by Charles Heber Clark, which was a commercial success and launched his illustration career. In 1875, he worked at

The Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...

. In 1876, Frost joined the art department at the publisher

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, where he worked with well-known illustrators including

Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...

E. W. Kemble Edward Winsor Kemble (January 18, 1861 – September 19, 1933), usually cited as E. W. Kemble, and sometimes referred to incorrectly as Edward Windsor Kemble, was an American illustrator. He is known best for illustrating the first edition of '' ...

Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Sta ...

and C. S. Reinhart. He published illustrations in other magazines such as

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

and

Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Ra ...

. While there, he learned a wide variety of techniques, from cartooning to what later came to be called

photorealistic Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...

painting. He moved to London in 1877 to study art and work. He was one of the first American illustrators to have success in England when he worked on illustrations for

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

and Charles Dickins. He returned to Philadelphia and studied under painters

and

at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

. In 1892, Frost partnered with Joel Chandler Harris and included his drawings of

and

and other characters into the book ''Uncle Remus and His Friend''. Frost and Harris published several additional versions of the Uncle Remus books including ''Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings'' in 1895 and 1898. Frost was influenced by the serial photography work of

Eadward Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

and translated his photographic approach to create successive illustration panels and dialogue which was a pioneering form of

s and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s. In 1884, Frost published ''Stuff and Nonsense'', an anthology of his works that advanced the concept of time-stop drawings and contained other innovations. Although he was never published in newspapers, Frost's work was influential on newspaper comic strip illustrators such as

Rudolph Dirks Rudolph Dirks (February 26, 1877 – April 20, 1968) was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip artists, well known for ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' (later known as '' The Captain and the Kids''). Dirks was born in Heide, Germany, to Jo ...

and Jimmy Swinnerton. Frost incorporated his interest in hunting, shooting and golf into multiple illustrations and publications. He was an avid golfer and a member of the

Morris County Golf Club The Morris County Golf Club (MCGC) is a private, members-only golf club located on in the upscale Convent Station section of Morris Township, New Jersey, a suburb northwest of New York City in Morris County. It is one of the 10 founding membe ...

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Coll ...

magazine. He was a member of the

Philadelphia Sketch Club The Philadelphia Sketch Club, founded on November 20, 1860, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of America's oldest artists' clubs. The club's own web page proclaims it ''the'' oldest. Prominent members have included Joseph Pennell, Thomas Eaki ...

, the

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

and the

Personal life

Frost married another artist, illustrator Emily Louise Phillips, in 1883. He lived on a farm in

Convent Station, New Jersey Convent Station is an unincorporated community located within Morris Township, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. located east of Morristown. Among the neighborhoods of Convent Station are Bradwahl, Cromwell Hills, and the Normandy Pa ...

until 1908. From 1908 until May 1916, Frost and his family lived 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. Si ...

to allow his children to study art. After his return to the United States, he lived in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and worked as an illustrator and comics artist, mainly for ''

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, energy ...

'' magazine. In 1924, Frost moved to

Pasadena, California 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. ...

and died there on June 22, 1928. He is interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia in Section C, plot 63.

Legacy

He was admitted posthumously into the Society of Illustration Hall of Fame in 1985. His depiction of Brer Rabbit from the Tales of Uncle Remus books was included on a commemorative stamp in 2001.

Gallery

File:A.B.Frost 1879-12 Harper's 355 p160 English th.png, A. B. Frost's first comic: a German attempts to pronounce English-language "th" sounds, December 1897 File:A.B.Frost 1881-07 Harper's monthly 374 vol63 p320 our cat eats rat poison.png, ''Our Cat Eats Rat Poison'' (titled ''Fatal Mistake'' in later editions) File:Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.jpg, Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby from the 1895 version of ''Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings'' File:Rail Shooting, by A B Frost from Shooting Pictures, by Scribner & Sons, 1895.jpeg, Rail Shooting, by A B Frost from Shooting Pictures, by Scribner & Sons (1895) File:Arthur Burdett Frost - The Golfer's Alphabet - Google Art Project.jpg, Front Cover of ''The Golfer's Alphabet'' (1898) File:Rhyme? and reason? (1901) (14590357087).jpg, Illustration from Lewis Caroll's ''Rhyme? and Reason?'' File:Arthur Burdett Frost, He Made Some hootch and tried it on the dog, 1921.jpg, A 1921 illustration by Frost

Partial list of works

*
Out of the Hurly Burly
', illustrations (1874) *'' Rhyme? And Reason?'', by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

(1883) *
Rudder Grange
', by

Frank R. Stockton Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century. Life Born i ...

(1885) *'' A Tangled Tale'', by Lewis Carroll (1885) *''Our Cat Eats Rat Poison'' (titled ''Fatal Mistake'' in later editions) (July 1881 in Issue #374 Harper's Magazine) *
Stuff and Nonsense
', anthology (1884) *
The Moral Pirates
' by W.L. Alden (1887) *

', anthology (1892) *''Uncle Remus and His Friends'', by Joel Chandler Harris (1892) *
The Story of a Bad Boy
' by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1895) *'' Tom Sawyer, Detective'' by

(1896) *''The Associate Hermits'' by Frank R. Stockton (1898) *
Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings
' by

(1898) *''Sports and Games in the Open'' (1899) *
The Chronicles of Aunt Minervy Ann
', by Joel Chandler Harris (1899) *
The Golfer's Alphabet
', Harper & Brothers, New York and London, (1899) *
A Book of Drawings
', P.F. Collier & Son, New York (1904) *''Carlo'' (1912) *''The Epic of Golf'', by Clinton Scollard (1923)

References

External links

* *
Morristown: A.B. Frost Collection
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, A. B. 1851 births 1928 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters American magazine illustrators American male golfers American male painters Artists from Pasadena, California Artists from Philadelphia Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Death in California Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni People from Morris County, New Jersey Students of Thomas Eakins 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists