Paul Bransom (July 26, 1885 – July 19, 1979) was an American painter, cartoonist, and illustrator of animals.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., as a child Bransom started sketching animals he saw in his backyard and at the National Zoo. He began his career as a technical draftsman for the

U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

when he was 13 years old. He relocated to New York City in 1903 and began drawing comic strips for the New York Evening Journal there. He drew the comic strip ''The Latest News from Bugville'' (1903–1912). After moving to New York, his talent as a wildlife artist was recognized while creating studies of the animals at the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

. His earliest commissions were covers for the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' and illustrations for editions of Kipling's ''

Just So Stories ''Just So Stories for Little Children'' is a 1902 collection of origin stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling. Considered a classic of children's literature, the book is among Kipling's best known works. Kipling began working on the ...

'' and Grahame's ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

''. Bransom was awarded the Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal, and his works are included in the collection of the

National Museum of American Illustration The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI), founded in 1998, is the first national museum to be devoted exclusively to American illustration artwork. The NMAI is located in the Vernon Court mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Is ...

at Newport, Rhode Island.
Formerly retrieved July 2011. Bransom's works are not among those included in the changing online display as of September 2016. Bransom was a resident of New York City from 1906 until his death. He died on July 19, 1979, during a visit to

Quakertown, Pennsylvania Quakertown is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2020, it had a population of 9,359. The borough is south of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem and nor ...

, several days before his 94th birthday."Paul Bransom, Illustrator, Dies; Called 'Dean of Animal Artists
Edith Evans Asbury. ''The New York Times''. July 22, 1979. p. 34. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
"died Thursday in Quakerstown, Pa., where he had been visiting. He would have been 94 years old next week."

Selected works

*''The Wind in the Willows'', by Kenneth Grahame (C. Scribner's Sons, 1913) *''An Argosy of Fables'', ed. Frederic Taber Cooper (Frederick A. Stokes, c1921) *''The Wild Heart'', Emma-Lindsay Squier (Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1922) *''Just So Stories'',

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

, illustrated by Kipling and Joseph M. Gleeson (

Garden City, NY Garden City is a village located in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 23,272 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within the Town of Hempstead, ...

: Country Life Press, c1912) – Bransom provided front cover, endpapers, and title page illustrations for a 1932 edition containing the Kipling and Gleeson interior illustrations *''The Country Gentleman'' (Curtis Publishing) cover illustration

References

External links

* * * (see previous page of browse report, 'Bransom, Paul, 1885–' without '1979')
Artwork by Paul Bransom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bransom, Paul 1885 births 1979 deaths Illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century American illustrators American magazine illustrators American children's book illustrators Wildlife artists 20th-century American painters American male painters American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists 20th-century American male artists