JOHN HELD JR.

Few artists define an age as thoroughly as John Held Jr. defines "The Roaring Twenties." Born in 1889, he was the right age at the right time with an outlook and sense of humor that shaped as well as recorded a generation. Held supposedly sold his first drawing at the age of nine. It's certain that he sold his firt drawing to the original Life magazine at fifteen and was hired as the sports cartoonist for the Salt Lake Tribune when he was sixteen. His early medium of choice was the wood block, which he returned to in various guises several times. He studied art only briefly in his teens with sculptor Mahonri Young. In 1912 he went east and relocated in New York. Those early days in New York were spent doing ads and trying to break into the magazine market. In 1915, he was appearing in Vanity Fair, but was signing the work with his wife, Myrtle's, name. In 1918 he was recruited by U.S. Naval Intelligence to accompany a pair of archaeologists on an expedition to Central America. In the latter half of the 20's he appeared regularly in a half-dozen magazines, designed sets and costumes for Broadway plays, had two newspaper strips and ran for Congress. The early 30's proved more difficult. The demad for flapper art was diminishing. Times changed - he lost a lot of money in a swindle and had a nervous breakdown. He second marriage also ended in divorce. He turned more to writing and illustrating books. He turned to sculpture and was the "artist in residence" at both Harvard and the University of Georgia at different times in the 1940's. He painted throughout his life and was adept at many styles and approaches. Held died in 1958.

www.bpib.com/illustrat/johnheld

Entered by: Michael Clayton, Print Study Room Staff, 2/6/06