Mr. March meets an old friend
Date1889
Artist
William Allen Rogers
(American illustrator and political cartoonist, 1854–1931)
Illustration Citation"A Hazard of New Fortunes," by William Dean Howells, in Harper's Weekly, May 18, 1889
MediumGouache on illustration board
Dimensions10 × 8 3/4 in. (25.4 × 22.2 cm)
Credit LineGayle and Alene Hoskins Endowment Fund, 2014
Object number2014-4
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThe plot of William Dean Howells' novel centers on the publishing industry in late 19th century New York City and highlights social and political events of the period. Here, Basil March (right), the founder a magazine, greets his old German teacher, who lost his hand in the American Civil War.Born in Ohio, William Allen Rogers had no formal art training. When he was 14, his mother submitted some of his cartoons to a Dayton newspaper, which published them. After leaving college without a degree, he joined the staff of the Daily Graphic in New York in 1873, assisting with news sketches and occasionally drawing cartoons. By 1877, he took over the political cartoon covers for Harper's Weekly upon the departure of the famous Thomas Nast. He moved to the New York Herald in 1902. Throughout his career, he also supplied both cartoons and story illustrations for Life, The Century, Puck, and St. Nicholas.
