Charles Clyde Squires (1882 Salt Lake City UT-1969 Great Neck, Long Island, NY ) was one of 3 children of Spencer Charles Squires (carpenter, born 1855, Scotland) and Ella A. Rogers (born 1857, Utah). When the artist was 7 years old. His uncle Harry Squires (1850-1928) was a landscape painter who also lived in Utah. In 1895 at the age of thirteen Squires finished his formal education and became an apprentice at the DeBousek Engraving Company, which supplied line art for advertising in local newspapers.
After a few years, Squires began to work for newspapers as a pen and ink artist. His first published illustration appeared in The Deseret Evening News in 1898. His drawing depicted a scene from the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, in which the US Navy defeated Spanish forces during the Spanish-American War. Its publication advanced Squires'
career, as the newspaper's art editor then gave him further instruction in "the use of pens and tricks in making lines for reproduction." Thereafter, his drawings regularly appeared in that newspaper, as well as The Salt Lake City Herald and The Salt Lake City Tribune.
In 1900, partly inspired by the art and commercial success of Charles Dana Gibson, Frederic Remington, and Howard Chandler Christy, Squires arrived in New York City to study at the New York School of Art with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri. In the spring of 1901 he entered the illustrating class of Howard Chandler Christy. In the summer of 1901 he returned to Salt Lake City, where he was hired to work as a staff artist at a commercial advertising house. In his spare time, he studied art with J. T. Harwood in Salt Lake City.
In the fall of 1902 Squires returned to New York and was accepted into Robert henri's life class at the Art Students League. Under the painter's leadership, he began to develop his individual style, rather than copying the styles of artists he admired.
In the summer of 1904 Squired returned to Utah and with the newspaper cartoonist Jack S. Sears (1875-1969) founded the Modern School of Illustration, in the Templeton Building in downtown Salt Lake City. Enrollment flourished, but by September he decided to leave the school and return to New York City to pursue his professional career as a freelance commercial artist.
In October 1904 Howard Chandler Christy gave Squires a letter of recommendation that secured a sale to The Reader Magazine. A year later, he opened an art studio in Manhattan at 601 West 144th Street.
In October 1905 Squires was invited to be one of twenty young artists to attend Howard Pyle's art class for illustrators. In 1906 Howard Pyle sent him to the offices of Life with a letter of introduction and suggestion that they publish his drawings.
In 1906 his prolific career began in earnest, appearing in popular nationwide magazines, such as Life and Everybody's. Before long, his work was published in Judge, Success, Woman's Home Companion, and St. Nicholas Magazine, among others.
In 1907 Squires married Elva Eliason (born 1886) of Logan, Utah. The couple lived at 502 West 122nd Street. They then moved to Great Neck, Long Island, NY. They had a son, Charles Clyde Squires, who became an advertising professional, and a daughter Elva Jean Squires. By 1916 he had moved his art studio to 51 West 37th Street. In 1918 Squires registered for the draft, as required by law, and was recorded to be thirty-six years of age, tall, slender, with blue eyes and auburn hair.
During the 1920s Squires work appeared in People's Home Journal, The American, Colliers, The Ladies Home Journal, and American Boy. He also illustrated several books published by Scribner's, Century, and Doubleday. His work also appeared as cover illustrations on pulp magazines, such as Love Romances, Everybody's Magazine, Short Stories, North West Stories, Argosy All-Story Weekly, Western Romances, and Rangeland Love. The February 1, 1926 issue of Breezy Stories features a self-portrait cameo of the artist at his easel.
In 1938 at the age of 56, he retired from illustration and became head of the media and markets division of the research department of NBC.
Ten years later, he joined the advertising research and merchandising staff of Fletcher D. Richards, Inc.
Throughout his career, Squires regularly exhibited his works, which were often purchased for private collections.
Sources:
https://www.pulpartists.com/Squires.html
http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Charles_C_Clyde_Squires/2772/Charles_C_Clyde_Squires.aspx
A small School of Art. Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth H. Hawkes, eds. Delaware Art Museum. 1980
