James Edward Marshall (October 10, 1942 – October 13, 1992) 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 ...
and writer of
children's books
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
, probably best known for the ''
George and Martha'' series of
picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
The ima ...
s (1972–1988). He illustrated books exclusively as James Marshall; when he created both text and illustrations he sometimes wrote as Edward Marshall. In 2007, the U.S. professional librarians posthumously awarded Marshall the
Children's Literature Legacy Award
The Children's Literature Legacy Award (formerly the ''Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal'' or ''Wilder Award'') is a prize awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to writers ...
for "substantial and lasting contribution" to American children's literature.
[
]
Life and death
James Marshall was born on October 10, 1942, in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
, where he grew up on his family's 85-acre farm. Marshall's father worked on the railroad and had a band while his mother sang in the local church choir. The family later moved to Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...
. Marshall said: "Beaumont is deep south and swampy and I hated it. I knew I would die if I stayed there so I diligently studied the viola, and eventually won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory in Boston."[ He entered the ]New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...
but injured his hand, ending his music career. Marshall returned to Texas, where he attended San Antonio College, and later transferred to Southern Connecticut State University
Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply "Southern") is a public research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it ...
where earning degrees in French and history. Marshall lived between an apartment in the Chelsea district of New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and a home in Mansfield Hollow, Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. He died on October 13, 1992, three days after his 50th birthday. Marshall's obituary states that he died of a brain tumor,[ but his sister has since clarified that he died of ]AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
.["Finding the Artist in His Art: A Week with the James Marshall Papers." Archives and Special Collections Blog. June 15, 2016. Accessed February 7, 2019. https://blogs.lib.uconn.edu/archives/2016/06/15/finding-the-artist-in-his-art-a-week-with-the-james-marshall-papers/.]["James Marshall." Wandervogel Diary. November 07, 2010. Accessed February 08, 2019. https://wandervogeldiary.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/james-marshall/.]
Career
It is stated that Marshall discovered his vocation on a 1971 summer afternoon, lying in a hammock and drawing. His mother was watching ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they rece ...
'', and the main characters, George and Martha, ultimately became characters in one of his children's books (as two hippos
A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water:
* Hippopotamus
* Pygmy hippopotamus
Hippo or Hippos may also refer to:
Toponymy
* The ancient city of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Alg ...
). Marshall continued creating books for children until his untimely death in 1992 from AIDS-related complications. In 1999, George and Martha became the stars of an eponymous animated TV show, which aired on HBO Family
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based ...
and Canadian YTV.
Marshall was a friend of the late Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...
, who called him the "last in the line" of children's writers for whom children's books were a cottage industry. Sendak said that Marshall was "uncommercial to a fault" and, as a consequence, was little recognized by the awards committees. (As illustrator of ''Goldilocks and the Three Bears'', Marshall was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal
The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...
in 1989; the "Caldecott Honor Books" may display silver rather than gold seals.[Bruce Lambert]
"James Marshall, 50, an Illustrator And an Author for Children, Dies"
''The New York Times'', October 15, 1992) Sendak said that in Marshall you got "the whole man", who "scolded, gossiped, bitterly reproached, but always loved and forgave" and "made me laugh until I cried." In introduction to the collected ''George and Martha'', Sendak called him the "last of a long line of masters" including Randolph Caldecott
Randolph Caldecott ( ; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pr ...
, Jean de Brunhoff
Jean de Brunhoff (; 9 December 1899 – 16 October 1937) was a French writer and illustrator remembered best for creating the Babar series of children's books concerning a fictional elephant, the first of which was published in 1931.
Early life
...
, Edward Ardizzone
Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was a British painter, printmaker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All Al ...
, and Tomi Ungerer
Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer (; 28 November 1931 – 9 February 2019) was a French artist and writer from Alsace (a French region on the French/German border). He published over 140 books ranging from children's books to adult works and from the f ...
.The Stupids
The Stupids are a fictional family which appear in a series of children's books written by Harry Allard and James Marshall. The Stupids draw their humor from the fact that they are incompetent to the point of confusing the most simple concept ...
'' (written by Allard), the Cut-ups, and many more."About the Author"
''Penguin Random House''] James Marshall had the uncanny ability to elicit wild delight from readers with relatively little text and simple drawings. With only two-minute dots for eyes, his illustrated characters are able to express a wide range of emotion, and produce howls of laughter from both children and adults.
Works
See also
References
External links
Guide to the James Marshall papers at the University of Oregon
:
— directory including Marshall
Guide to the James Marshall papers at the University of Connecticut
in the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The McCain Library and Archives is the chief reserve library for The University of Southern Mississippi. It houses the items in Southern Mississippi's possession that are not available for checkout. Besides being the archives, the building also ...
*
Edward Marshall
at LC Authorities, with 12 records, an
Edward at WorldCat
Edward Marshall
in the German national library (with 2 records likely for another Edward Marshall)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, James
1942 births
1992 deaths
American children's book illustrators
American children's writers
Children's Literature Legacy Award winners
Writers from San Antonio
Place of death missing
American male writers
20th-century American writers
Southern Connecticut State University alumni
Artists from Texas
Deaths from brain tumor
People from Chelsea, Manhattan
Writers who illustrated their own writing