Biography from AskART:
| Biography on Francis Gilbert Attwood submitted by Stephen Franzoi
Francis Gilbert Attwood was born in Jamaica Plain, MA on September 29, 1856. He was one of five founders of the Harvard Lampoon at Harvard College in 1876. While at Harvard, the Hasty Pudding Club made Attwood its artist, and until his death he continued to do work for them free of charge. He was a Harvard student for three years and left without taking a degree.
After leaving Harvard, he studied drawing first with Dr. William Rimmer, then at the Boston Art Museum's school. During this time and until the founding of LIFE, in 1883, he was engaged in desultory illustrating. He illustrated books and magazines--among them THE COSMOPOLITAN--to which he gave his best efforts. But his greatest reputation was made as a contributor to Life. Over nearly 20 years, he placed his best work within its volumes.
As an artist, Attwood was best known for his political and moral caricature. His animating motives were humanitarian, and his sympathies went out to the despised of all races and classes, the weak, oppressed, unfortunate and incapable, regardless of politics. He delighted in lampooning public figures who were bullies, cheats, or imposters.
In January 1887, he began contributing to LIFE a summary of the month's events in the form of a decorative border to some brief text. For 13 years, this monthly summary of the world's happenings, great and little, was continued, almost without a break. After awhile, the text dropped out and the drawing became more and more elaborate. In "The Month" he had found his unique place of vantage, from which to display what was memorable, bright, or amusing, or to pelt the base, false or cruel. He died unmarried on April 30, 1900.
Attwood's biography and/or examples of his work are listed in the following publications:
Zwick, Jim. (Jan. 19, 2001). Political Cartoons and Cartoonists. http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/pc_intro.html
Falk, Peter Hastings. (1999). Who Was Who in American Art: 1564-1975, 3 Vols.
Falk, Peter Hastings. (1989). Annual Exhibition Record, 1876-1913: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Illustration #60.
Feaver, William. (1981). Masters of Caricature: From Hogarth & Gillray to Scarfe & Levine. Illustration #349.
Horn, Maurice. (Ed.). (1980). The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons. Detroit, MI: Gale Research.
Karpel, Bernard, & Spiegel, Ruth. (1979). Arts in America/A Biography: Vol. 2, Paintings and Graphics.
Hartmann, Sadekichi. (1932). A History of American Painting: Revised Edition, Two Volumes in One. Illustration #66.
(1900). Attwood's Pictures: An Artist's History of the Last Ten Years of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Life Publishing Co.
Mitchell, John Ames. (Dec. 1889). Contemporary American Caricature. Scribner's Magazine, 6, 728-745. illus. (This well-illustrated article surveys American caricature published in periodicals from the Civil War through the 1880s. Mitchell focuses his attention on Joseph Keppler and other artists associated with Puck, the sympathetic drawings of blacks by W.L. Shepperd & E.W. Kemble, and Life's cartoonist, W.A. Rogers. Many observations about America and its society are made, such as its desire for an intellectual art, or art with an idea. F.G. Attwood, M.A. Woolf, Oliver Herford, Frank and F.P.W. Bellow, Henry W. McVickar, S.W. Van Schaick, Charles J. Taylor, and Charles Dana Gibson are among those whose work is illustrated and discussed.)
Upon his death, the following article appeared:
Garrison, Lloyd. (Sept. 1900). "The Work of a Great Cartoonist." Cosmopolitan, 29, 550-560. illus. (This article discusses Attwood's life, mentioning that he was an illustrator and also a renowned political cartoonist. The article is well illustrated and informative.)
A year after his death, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts exhibited his work:
An Exhibition of the Drawings of Francis Gilbert Attwood. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1901. Exhibition. (This catalog lists about 200 drawings, most of which were political or social in nature. Many of his drawings were published in Life, although his work appeared in other magazines and books.)
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