Amos Sewell

A 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 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.