Joseph Morgan Henninger (May 15, 1906 – March 7, 1999) was an American artist and

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 ...

. He was born in

Elwood, Indiana Elwood is a city in Madison County, Indiana, Madison and Tipton County, Indiana, Tipton counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. The Madison County portion, which is nearly all of the city, is part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area, Indianapoli ...

and died in

Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside Los Angeles, Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affec ...

. Henninger was an accomplished painter and sculptor. He also became a commercial artist, an illustrator, and a teacher of "Croquie". He was a founding member and the first president of the

Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) was founded in 1953 by a group of Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that ...

(1953). The Society has established an annual award in his name to honor a top illustrator. He was a graduate of

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in Paris. He had won a four-year scholarship for a painting submitted to the Thomas Award competition. Upon graduating, he returned to Indiana and set up a portrait studio in Indianapolis. Later, he moved to Chicago, and then to the

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

where he painted two

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

. Finally, he settled in Los Angeles, California and his career as an illustrator, commercial artist, and teacher began. He taught classes at the Art Center College of Design for 36 years and many of his students became outstanding artists. Henninger also worked in the film industry, providing illustrations and set designs for

Vincent Korda Vincent Korda (22 June 1897 – 4 January 1979) was a Hungarian-born artist and art director, born in Túrkeve in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From 1918 to 1921 he lived and worked in the Nagybánya artists' colony, which was ...

, Selznick Studios,

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, and Columbia. During World War II, he headed the Illustration Department of

Lockheed Aircraft Lockheed (originally spelled Loughead) may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Lockheed Corporation, a former American aircraft manufacturer * Lockheed Martin, formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta ** Lockheed Mar ...

where he created perspective drawings of aircraft. Throughout his career years, Henninger continued to create fine art, including paintings in oil, acrylic and, primarily, watercolor. He traveled extensively in Europe to find subjects and locations for his paintings and also made several trips to Japan. An example of his skill and attention to detail is the watercolor shown at the right, depicting 33 scenes of Spain on a single canvas. His works are on display in private collections and museums, including the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

. In the

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Art Collection. can be seen several of his paintings, including a portrait of

Chuck Yeager Brigadier general (United States), Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in his ...

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At the Tempe, Arizona, Tempe Campus of

there are two murals painted by Henninger: ''Spanish Influence in Arizona'' and ''Industrial Development in Arizona''. ''Industrial Development in Arizona'' addresses the theme of the five C's of Arizona: Cotton, copper, cattle, climate and citrus. Henninger received a commission to paint the murals in 1934 as part of the

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal work-relief program that employed professional artists to create sculptures, paintings, crafts and design for public buildings and parks during the Great Depression in the United States. The ...

. Henninger is also the author and illustrator of several books, one of the most important of which is ''Drawing of the Hand and Its Anatomy'', published in 1973. Henninger was President of the

California Art Club The California Art Club (CAC) is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. Founded in December 1909, it celebrated its centennial in 2009 and into the spring of 2010. The California Art Club originally evolved out of The ...

in 1965, and was also elected to several terms as president of the

Art Directors Guild The Art Directors Guild (ADG; IATSE Local 800) is a labor union and local of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) representing 3,278 motion picture and television professionals in the United States and Canada. The ...

. He was a member of the National Watercolor Society. "American Artist" Magazine recognized Joseph Morgan Henninger as "''...one of the most influential watercolorists of the latter half of the twentieth century.''" (from the California Art Club Newsletter, June/July 1999) Joseph's beloved wife, Danica, followed him in death on January 23, 2004 at age 94.

References

*Harvey, B. (1983, Summer), Joseph Henninger, N.W.S., ''Artists of the Rockies and the Golden West'', pp72–79. *Hines, D. C. (1983, February), The Living Legends of American Watercolor. ''American Artist'', p71.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henninger, Joseph American watercolorists Artists from Indiana 1906 births 1999 deaths American muralists 20th-century American illustrators American landscape artists Public Works of Art Project artists People from Elwood, Indiana American expatriates in France

See also

References

External links