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

Br'er 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, African-Americans of the Southern United States and African descendants in the Caribbean ...

and other characters in the

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

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 Atlant ...

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 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 terminology#Captio ...

s. He was admitted posthumously to the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) 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. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

' Hall of Fame in 1985.

Career

Frost was born January 17, 1851, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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 Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 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 became the 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. In 1876, Frost joined the art department at the publisher

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship Imprint (trade name), imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper (publisher), James Harper and his brother John, the compan ...

, where he worked with well-known illustrators including

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

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 (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

, Punch and

Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjo ...

. 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 b ...

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 the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

. 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. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

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

and Brer Rabbit 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 firs ...

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, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

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 Joha ...

and

Jimmy Swinnerton James Guilford Swinnerton (November 13, 1875 – September 5, 1974) was an American cartoonist and a landscape painter of the Southwest deserts. He was known as Jimmy to some and Swinny to others. He signed some of his early cartoons Swin, and on ...

. 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 in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, during the initial uptake of the sport in the United States. His sketches of golf players focused on the drama and passion of the players set in detailed backgrounds. His golf illustrations were included in ''The Golfer's Alphabet'' (1898), ''The Epic of Golf'' (1923) and on two covers of

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

magazine. He was a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the Society of Independent Artists and the

Personal life

Frost married another artist, illustrator Emily Louise Phillips, in 1883. He lived at Boisaubin Manor in

Convent Station, New Jersey Convent Station is an unincorporated community located within Morris Township, in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The community is named after the Convent Station railroad station that was constructed along the Morris and Ess ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine. In 1924, Frost moved to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...

and died there on June 22, 1928. He is interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery, also called Laurel Hill East to distinguish it from the affiliated West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Bala Cynwyd, is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls, Philadelphia, East Falls neighborhood ...

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, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

(1883) *
Rudder Grange
', by Frank R. Stockton (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 Thomas Bailey Aldrich ( ; November 11, 1836 – March 19, 1907) was an American writer, poet, critic, and editor. He is notable for his long editorship of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', during which he published writers including Charles W. Chesnutt ...

(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) 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