Description: Born in East Orange, NJ in 1902, Higgins entered the prestigious National Academy of Design at 18. Admittance into the Academy was the highest mark of honor that could be bestowed upon a young illustrator, but in the early 20th century, many students were chafing under the institutions rigid approach to art. Higgins soon moved his studies to the more progressive Art Students League, where he was taught by giants of illustration like George Bridgeman, Harvey Dunn, and Dean Cornwell. Bridgeman, who revolutionized anatomical drawing, was most influential on Higgins, whose talents as a female figure illustrator were in constant demand. An avid student of contemporary illustrators, such as Rockwell Kent and J.C. Leyendecker, the influence these groundbreaking artists had on the early work of Higgins is apparent in the two examples below. After honing his unique style at Paramount, Higgins returned home to the East Coast in the early 1930s, where he entered into the most productive period in his long career. From 1931-1942, Higgins created hundreds if not thousands of published illustrations. Scandalous nude pin-up covers for the spicy pulps, patriotic war imagery and advertising for the New York World's Fair of 1939. Like many other established artists, upon his semi-retirement in 1967, he continued to work as a private portraitist. Living in Hollywood Florida, he struck up a close friendship with noted art historian and collector Charles Martignette, who carefully kept an archive of Higgins career, and inherited the artist's personal portfolios (from which many of the details in this biography are culled). In 1979 the two collaborated to create a limited edition series of lithographs based upon some of Higgins' earliest work--pen & ink art deco illustrations, strongly reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley, or Harry Clarke's works for Edgar Allan Poe novels. After Cardwell Higgins' death in 1983, Martignette organized a gallery retrospective of the artist's work, which showed in his adopted home of Hollywood Florida.
Price: 1395 USD
Location: Tarzana, California
End Time: 2025-01-31T04:36:59.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Original/Reproduction: Original/Ink on paper
Subject: Landscapes
Style: Realism
Size: 8"x12" frame size 15"x18"
Date of Creation: 1945
Type of Art: Ink on paper
Artist: Cardwell S. Higgins
