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Jules Guerin (1866-1946)
The Illustrators: Jules Guerin's portal into the world of Golden Age Illustration was the theater. Born and raised in St. Louis Missouri, he studied art in Chicago and supported himself painting scenery backdrops and fire curtains for local theaters. After further study in Paris and travel throughout Europe, he began illustrating books. He specialized in romantic depictions of exotic places and peoples, which led him to the field of mural painting. His work featured in Century Magazine and Scribner's Magazine after 1900 while he exhibited his paintings internationally in the Paris Exposition of 1900, Pan American Exposition in 1901, the Lewis and Clark Exposition, 1905. He selected the color palette for all the buildings and exhibit halls of the 1915 San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition. When noted architect Daniel Burnham in 1907 created the “Chicago Plan” for a resigned central scheme for that city, Guerin created a series of renderings to illustrate the project. Throughout the 1920s, Guerin created murals for banks, railroad terminals, and government buildings. The most prominent example of his mural painting is found at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC. He designed and painted two large murals flanking Daniel French's famous seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. Below are some examples of Guerin's paintings, murals, magazine and book illustrations. Check the Image Galleries for more examples of the work of Jules Guerin
Above left: The marketplace at Spaleto, Italy, Century Magazine 1913.
Above left: Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, 1908.
Above left: The Great Hall of Abydos, Egypt, 1913.
Above: Union Square, New York, illustration for Metropolitan Magazine, 1905.
Above: Center panel of the Jules Guerin mural, south wall |
