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William Baziotes
Cecilia Beaux
Arthur B. Carles
Clarence Carter
Mary Cassatt
Fern Coppedge
Virginia Cuthbert
Charles Demuth
George Erickson
Daniel Garber
William Glackens
Aaron Harry Gorson
Johanna Hailman
Robert Henri
Roy Hilton
Joseph Hirsch
John Kane
Albert King
George Luks
Norwood MacGilvary
Violet Oakley
Malcolm Parcell
Maxfield Parrish
Horace Pippin
Hobson Pittman
Joseph Plavcan
Edward Redfield
Samuel Rosenberg
Morton Livingston Schamberg
Walter Elmer Schofield
Charles Sheeler
Everett Shinn
John Sloan
Robert Spencer
Walter Stuempfig
Henry Ossawa Tanner
A. Brian Wall
Christian Walter
Everett Warner
Franklin Watkins
N.C. Wyeth
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George Erickson (1893-1936)
Young Scientist, 1932
 Born in Minnesota, George Ericson, working under the pseudonym Eugene Iverd, became famous as an illustrator, producing covers for the Saturday Evening Post, as well as images for other leading magazines. Advertisements were another important source of income for artists willing to undertake commercial work. In 1916, after a year of study at the St. Paul Art institute, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy. Drafted into the Army in 1918, the Armistice was declared before his outfit could be shipped out. He was then transferred to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he taught art to wounded veterans. After his discharge from the Army in 1921, he secured a teaching position in Erie. He did well in his new position and soon was promoted to become the city-wide supervisor of art instruction. His illustration career took off during this period, and by 1926 he could cut back the hours he worked for the city. In a letter written to his mother, Ericson’s enthusiasm about a career as an illustrator is evident:
| Dear Precious Darling Mother:
Excuse this big salutation, but I can't wait another moment. I must tell you the good news. You will remember my telling you I submitted four canvases to The Saturday Evening Post. Well, yesterday I got a letter from them, and they told me they were very much interested and see possibilities in several. They also said that a Mr. Martin was coming to Erie to go over the pictures with me. Last night I got a telegram from them saying Mr. Martin would see me this evening. He came with the big canvases up to the house, and I talked with him for an hour. He told me so many things. I can't believe them even now.
I had a lot of other stuff to tell you, but Mother, I am too excited. Think of it, Mother. I was good enough to have them send a special man down to see me. If I can get in with them, Mother, you will have every thing you ever wished for. The big artists get from $1,000 to $1,500 for each of their covers.
He said they were anxious to find young men who could develop into cover artists. He said they received thousands of covers by artists trying to get in.... He said that they want young men who can grow with them. |
Ericson’s Young Scientist (1932) was a typical subject for a painter who preferred to paint children. Holding a magnifying glass, his youthful subject bends down to inspect an insect on a milkweed plant. His net, specimen jar, and binoculars are on the ground in front of him. With a pencil tucked in his ear, he is ready to jot down his observations in the notebook he holds in his left hand. Intent on his task, the sunny summer atmosphere conveys the optimism typical of his work. Although the depression was in full force, one senses the optimistic possibility of a bright future.
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