[Geysers] Early YNP engravers

[Tom and Genean]

HI Scott,

Looking again at both the xerox of the original engraving of Giant and the  
reproduction in the Tejada-Flores book, the name at the bottom of the  
engraving is W. J. Linton with "SC" after the name. Tejada-Flores  
indicates that  W. C. Bryant was the editor of the book and shows his name  
on the reproduced title page and preface. My xeroxed copy of the original  
does not have him on the title page or the preface?!?!?

Fenn is listed as "artist" on 18 of the 34 subjects in the contents of  
volume one. He is also listed as the artist on 8 of the 24 "list of  
engravings on steel."

His name is clearly on one of the 15 engravings in the Yellowstone chapter.

Genean Dunn

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:53:16 EDT, <TSBryan at aol.com> wrote:

> This will probably be my last posting about this matter -- the  
> engravers,  in
> this case, not the engravings themselves. I've been doing considerable
> searching both online and at the Ranco Mirage Public Library, which has  
> an
> excellent art history section in reserve. Others asked that I pass  
> along  anything I
> learn, so here it is...
> The guy who did the illustration of the huge Crested Pool with Castle
> Geyser's cone in the background is still an unknown -- not a hint of the  
> name  "T.
> Hildebrand" in anything. Should anybody find anything, somewhere...   
> please.
> The guy who did the exaggerated Grotto Geyser (which he called "The Cave
> Geyser"), an illustration that with essentially no modifications  
> appeared in a
> number of later works, was Edouard Riou (1838-1900). In his time, Riou  
> was
> extremely famous, and he was the illustrator of the first editions of  
> such works
> as Jules Verne's _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_, _Around the World in 80
> Days_,  _Journey to the Center of the Earth_, and more. And he did  
> extensive
> travel-based art. The Yellowstone engravings probably -- only probably --
> appeared in an edition of the French journal _Le Monde Illustre_ (which  
> went  through
> hundreds of issues and might(?) still exist); I note, however, that my
> initial online source for this image (which was being sold on E-bay)  
> cited it as
> coming from a "French travel publication" that was not named. Anyhow, so  
> Riou
> is  pretty well pinned down.
> Last is the image that shows a little tiny man running away from an   
> erupting
> Giant Geyser, waving his arms -- is he running in fright or trying to
> attract the attention of others? It was done by one Harry Fenn. There  
> is  curiosity
> here. The image appeared in _Picturesque America, or the Land We Live   
> In_,
> which is listed under the name of William Cullen Bryant. However,  
> according  to
> _Who Was Who in American Art_ (which I managed to find an old edition   
> of)
> _Picturesque America..._ was Fenn's and served as America's "first  ever  
> gift
> book." So maybe Bryant was just the editor -- possible, since he was a   
> newspaper
> man by primary profession. Anyhow... Fenn was born in England in 1845,   
> first
> came to the USA in 1864, spent about 6 years here, returned briefly to
> Italy, came back in 1870 and worked on the images for _Picturesque  
> America_. and
> etc. etc. back to Europe, similar books over there, art featured at the
> Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), stayed in the USA until he died on  
> this
> year's YNP opening date, April 21, 1911.
> Searching Google for Bryant and the publication name, I found a
> good-resolution version of the color original of the Giant image --  
> wider than  what I
> posted the other day, it includes Oblong's steam cloud in the  
> background  right.
> OK, so I lack (and sure would like to have) any info about T.   
> Hildebrand.
> Scott Bryan
>
>
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