Artist Comparison the Rise of a Leisure Essay

Artist Comparison

The rise of a leisure class that demanded regular entertainment during the mid to late 19th century contributed to the need for illustrators and illustrations for those magazines, books, and other materials. This contributed to what is called the "Golden Age of Illustration." Essentially, there was a significant increase in both literacy and the desire for entertainment in print during the 19th century; particularly in American urban centers. This led to a need for the weekly story, magazine, and even book that was lavishly illustrated. Combined with the improvement in printing technology, this caused a literal revolution in the need for illustrators, many of whom were able to make quite a good living producing materials for the masses (Levin).

Charles Robert Knight- (1874-1953) -- Knight was one example of someone who lived during the late 19th century but continued working until his death in the early 1950s. He was best known for his paintings and illustrations of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. His works, in fact, are so much a part of the iconic version of dinosaurs, that most children born after World War II were exposed to his versions of prehistoric life. What also makes Knight interesting is that he was legally blind -- and needed specially designed glasses before the age of 12, at which time he enrolled at the Metropolitan Art School to become a commercial artist.He was interested in wildlife and spent hours copying materials from the American Museum of Natural History to develop his technique. Knight was unique in many ways because he was not shy about making leaps in his illustrations based on probability, guess work, and the best science of the time. Many of the bones on hand at the museum were incomplete; therefore many of the reconstructions were also incomplete. He is also unique in the fact that without formal paleontological training, he anticipated many of the modern discoveries about dinosaur movement and adaptation and recreated them within his pieces. As an illustrator he was employed more with museums, zoos, and academic institutions, as well as dinosaur books during the early 20th century. Although not all of his works were based on solid evidence, and especially his recreations of prehistoric environments, he at least popularized the medium enough to….....