Arthur Bernard Singer (4 December 1917 7 April 1990) was an American wildlife artist who primarily specialized in bird illustration.

Early life and education

Singer was born on 4 December 1917 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 ...

, to a family of artists, the son of Tessie (Kirshbaum) and Sigmund Singer, and was raised in mid-

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In the 1930s he made friends with several jazz musicians active in Harlem, including

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

, both of whom he sketched during this period.Stephanie Strom:
Arthur B. Singer, 72, Artist, Dies; Painted 50 State Birds on Stamps
' In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 8 June 1990 This friendship lasted a lifetime, and in 1950s Ellington asked Singer to design a number of album covers, including a design that became the album cover for '' In a Mellow Tone.'' In 1939, he graduated from

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and subsequently he worked as a printer in an advertising agency. In 1942, while still in his early twenties, he was offered the opportunity of an exhibit of his animal illustration work by the New York Zoological Society. Shortly thereafter, he was drafted into the US Army and served in Company C of the 603rd Camouflage Engineers.

Career

Influenced by

Carl Rungius Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius (August 18, 1869 – October 21, 1959) was a leading American wildlife artist. He was born in Germany though he immigrated to the United States and he spent his career painting in the western United States and Can ...

Louis Agassiz Fuertes Louis Agassiz Fuertes (February 7, 1874 Ithaca, New York – August 22, 1927 Unadilla, New York) was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist who set the rigorous and current-day standards for ornithological art and naturalist depiction ...

, and Wilhelm Kuhnert, Singer became a full-time illustrator and artist by 1955.Hammond, Nicholas, ''Modern Wildlife Painting'', Pica Press, 1998, , pp. 233. An assignment from '' The American Home'' magazine in 1956 cleared the path for him as a wildlife artist for the rest of his life. In the following years, Singer illustrated more than 20 books, including ''Field Guide to Birds of North America'' (by

Bertel Bruun Bertel Bruun (November 13, 1937 – September 21, 2011) was a naturalist, international conservationist and neurologist. Bruun wrote many books and was the co-author of The Golden Field Guide to Birds of North America first published in 1966. H ...

and Chandler S. Robbins), ''Field Guide to Birds of Europe'', ''Birds of the World'' (by

Oliver L. Austin Oliver Luther Austin Jr. (May 24, 1903 – December 31, 1988) was an ornithologist who wrote the definitive study ''Birds of the World,'' eventually published in seven languages. At various times he was Director of the Austin Ornithological Resear ...

), ''The Life of the Hummingbird'', ''Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies'' (by

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

and Don R. Eckelberry), ''State Birds''( Arthur and Alan Singer ), ''Zoo Animals'', ''Birds of Greenland'', ''Cats'', ''Wild Animals from Alligator to Zebra'', ''British and European Birds in Colour'' (by Bertel Bruun), ''The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe'', ''Book of Birds in Colour'' (by

Robert Porter Allen Robert Porter Allen (24 April 1905 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania – 28 June 1963) was an American ornithologist and environmentalist. He achieved worldwide attention for his rescue operations of the whooping crane (''Grus Americana'') in th ...

), ''Water and Marsh Birds of the World'' (by Oliver L. Austin) and ''Birds of the Caribbean''. In the 1970s he received several commissions for illustrations by ''Audubon'' and ''National Geographic''. The US Postal Service asked Singer to illustrate a set of fifty official state bird and flower stamps in 1982 which he designed and illustrated with his son Alan —a series that became highly popular in the US, selling 500 million sheets and over 25 billion individual stamps. Singer was the first recipient of the Augustus St. Gaudus medal (1962) and was a fellow of the

American Ornithologists Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

. He received a Citation of Merit by the Society of Illustrators in 1974, and in 1977 he earned a silver medal at the International Book Fair in Leipzig, Germany, for ''Birds of the World''. In 1985, he received the Hal Borland Award from the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

upon the 200th anniversary of Audubon’s birth. He died of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voice ...

in his home in Jericho, New York on 7 April 1990.

References

External links

Official website for the legacy of Arthur Singer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Arthur B. 1917 births 1990 deaths Painters from New York City American bird artists People from Jericho, New York 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists