Harry Beckhoff (1901–1979) 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 complicate ...

Work

Country Gentlemen published his first magazine illustrations in 1929. From the late 1920s to the early 1960s Beckhoff did illustrations for numerous books and magazines, most notably

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 ...

. His small sketches, almost thumb-nail size contained all of the information needed including facial expressions. He then pantographed the drawing, up-scaling it up to five time, and inked in the outlines.

Style and influence

Although he studied with

Dean Cornwell Dean Cornwell (March 5, 1892 – December 4, 1960) was a left-handed Harvey Dunn Harvey Thomas Dunn NA, also known as J. Harvey Dunn (March 8, 1884 – October 29, 1952), was an American painter and teacher. During World War I, Dunn was an artist-correspondent with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. Most of Du ...

, he didn't pursue the style of painterly brushstrokes and impastos. Instead, he defined his forms with flat shapes, whose internal forms are defined by thin lines. The emphasis is more on silhouette and line than it is on texture and lighting. Beckhoff also described his work as having been influenced by illustrators

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

, Brissaud, and Marty.

References

1901 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American illustrators {{illustrator-stub