On Assignment: American Illustration 1850 - 1950

March 6, 2010 – February 20, 2011

Classical literature, romantic best-sellers, cowboy adventures, historical fiction, frothy short stories about high society—all these and many more were the assignment of the working illustrator during a century of profound cultural change.  Illustrations captured telling moments of the written narrative, and individual illustrators were often sought out by editors and recognized by readers.  This exhibition, drawn primarily from the Delaware Art Museum’s nationally recognized collection of illustration art, demonstrates the range of styles and subjects that characterized American books and magazines from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.

Untitled, 1909, cover for Harper's Weekly, September 9, 1909 Percy van E. Ivory, (1883-1960) Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches Louisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund, 1976	Take me in straight or I'll break your arm, 1911, from Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson (Philadelphia: G. W. Jacobs, 1911) Elenore Plaisted Abbott (1875-1935) Ink and watercolor on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 inches Louisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund, 1977

Organizer & Sponsors

On Assignment: American Illustration 1850 – 1950 was organized by the Delaware Art Museum.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.