Sue Rainey, a historian of American graphic arts and author of the study Creating “Picturesque America” has now published the first biography of America´s leading illustrator of 19th century – travelogues, the English-born landscape painter and graphic artist Harry Fenn (1845 – 1911). Arriving in New York from London in 1857 as a young wood engraver, Fenn soon forged a career in illustration. His tiny black-and-white wood engravings for Whittier’s Snow-Bound (1868) surprised critics with their power, and his bold, innovative compositions for Picturesque America (1872–74) were enormously popular and expanded the field for illustrators and publishers. In the 1880s and ’90s, his illustrations appeared in many of the finest magazines and newspapers, depicting the places and events that interested the public—from post–Civil War national reconciliation to the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 to the beginnings of imperialism in the Spanish-American War.

J. Wallace Black: Harry Fenn (Source: Rainey, Creating a World )

The publication documents Fenn’s prolific career from the 1860s until his death in 1911. Sue Rainey also recounts his adventurous sketching trips in the western United States, Europe, and the Middle East, which enhanced his reputation for depicting far-flung places at a time when the nation was taking a more prominent role on the world stage.

Harry Fenn, Illustration for John Greenleaf Whittier´s “Snow-Bound. A Winter Idyl”, Boston 1868  (engraved by W.J. Linton)

Harry Fenn, Keats’ Home in Rome, 1894