Image Not Available

Western scene of man with gun choking man on floor

Date1957

Illustration CitationDate and place of publication not identified

MediumGraphite, ink, and gouache on paper

Dimensions18 × 22 1/2 in. (45.7 × 57.2 cm)
frame: 25 1/2 × 30 1/2 in. (64.8 × 77.5 cm)

Credit LineF. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 1984

Object number1984-5

On View

Not on view

Label TextA native Californian, Sewell kept his day job as a banker while studying art at night. By 1930, he earned his transport by working on a lumber-boat sailing from San Francisco through the Panama Canal to New York City, where he continued his studies. One of his teachers was Howard Pyle's student Harvey Dunn. He soon received commissions for magazine illustration and advertising campaigns.

During World War II, he also won an award for design of the best American war bond illustrations. As a cover artist, he worked on The Saturday Evening Post, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, True, Today’s Woman, Coronet, Liberty, and Country Gentleman. Among his most popular works were his illustrations of detective stories for pulp fiction publications.