An Appreciation of Robert Fawcett

From the October 1953 issue of American Artist magazine, by Henry C. Pitz:

Robert Fawcett is not the only independent thinking illustrator in the country by any means, but he belongs to a minority.


It is an important minority, though, because without turning its back upon the problems of communication that every illustrator must solve, it has a hardcore stubbornness that does not yield to the fad and manner of the moment. It is a minority of individuals who are jealous of their individuality and resist the anonimity of rubber-stamp picturemaking.


Fawcett is as stubborn and positive as the best of them but his stubbornness and positiveness is born of conviction and competence. These qualities have carried him through thirty years of picturemaking without visible wavering or floundering. They have helped him produce an unusually consistent body of work of remarkable high quality.


Now, at a little past fifty, it is a natural time for stock-taking. He is entitles to a certain feeling of smugness after a long backwards glance. He finds his name an important one in a very big and highly competitive field. Not a popular illustrator in the usual sense of the term, he has the deep respect and often the envy of his colleagues. He has been rightly called "the illustrator's illustrator."


Continued tomorrow.

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