Born in 1873, Howard Chandler Christy was just 22 when the first "Christy Girl" (at right) was published in the November 1895 issue of The Century magazine. Actually, he produced four images for the story, The Tragedy of the Comedy, by Chester Bailey Fernald (who?) and they depicted five women and little else. Like his contemporaries, W.T. Benda, Franklin Booth, Frank Craig, Harrison Fisher, and J.C. Leyendecker, he was a young artist in New York at a time when the magazines of the day were clamoring for images.

He came to the city from Ohio in 1890 when he was 16 to attend the Art Students League where he studied under William Merritt Chase. But his funds quickly ran out and he was forced by economic circumstances to return to Ohio. Two years later, he returned and studied with Chase who was promoting "plein air" as the way to paint. Chase didn't start his own school until 1896, so it's likely that these were private lessons at a preliminary version of the school. An example of his work with Chase from circa 1892-94 is at left. This direct-from-nature method suited Christy perfectly and his work was soon in demand. At some point, Christy attended the National Academy of Design. It may have been while he was still a student there that he received that first 1895 commission from The Century. The editors were always on the lookout for upcoming young artists and Christy was a standout student.

 

A little-known aspect of Christy's early career is the edition of Hamlet that he did for Dodd-Mead in 1897. It is profusely illustrated in b&w and in it he continues to develop his interpretations of femininity. See below. The role this book played in establishing his reputation and in the defining of the "Christy Girl" has yet to be determined, but it demonstrates that at the age of 24, he was already a proficient and respected illustrator.

In 1898 he provided a few illustrations to a serialized article on the Revolutionary War for Scribner's Magazine. A few months later the magazine sent him and fellow artist, F.C. Yohn to Cuba to cover the Spanish American War. The young men were likely friends as Yohn was all of 23 at the time and a fellow Art Students League graduate. Christy met Teddy Roosevelt en-route and drew many illustrations of the soon-to-be-famous Rough Riders.

 

Wounded Rough Riders Coming Over the Hill at Siboney

His first war illustration, above, was for a report written by Richard Harding Davis for the September 1898 issue. He did another, larger painting (though reproduced smaller here) for a two-page article he himself wrote for the same issue. An Artist at El Poso reports the stirring events leading up to and culminating in The Fight at the San Juan Block-house, July 1st. That's the title of the painting below. In the magazine, it carries the additional notation "(The artist was an eye-witness.)" Other biographies all state that it was these war pictures that made his reputation. Perhaps, but there really weren't that many of them (perhaps only 15 or so in Scribner's and others in Leslie's Weekly - unless the Rough Rider portfolio book turns up). Nor, other than the one article he wrote, was there any special attention paid to him in print. Many of the images were actually drawings recreating other people's photographs - without even a bi-line for him as the artist. I'm sure that this work enhanced his reputation, but that this limited exposure might have skyrocketed him to fame is problematic.

To my mind, it was a growing body of work including his illustrations for the 1897 Hamlet and (see left) for The Lion and The Unicorn in the August 1899 issue of Scribner's that launched both his career and the notion of the Christy Girl. The Lion and The Unicorn was by the popular author, and by then very famous war correspondent, Richard Harding Davis. Reteaming with Davis, the one-time editor of Harper's Weekly, must have been done with Davis' approval - no small recommendation at the time - and Christy's languid female figures in lush drapery were the perfect counterpoint to the pen & ink Gibson Girl of the day. As Gibson was another favorite illustrator of Davis stories, the comparison was begged to be made.

This was followed the same year by his book illustrations for Paul Leicester Ford's short story, Wanted ~ A Matchmaker, with more of the same. It was their sensuality tightly wrapped in their overdressed respectability that made his women stand out. And they seemed somehow more approachable than their Gibson counterparts - equally sure of themselves, but not quite so remotely idealized.

Whatever the source of his fame, by 1899, Christy was a star. One of the most ornate manifestations of this status was his magnificent portfolio - Pastel Portraits from the Romantic Drama. The 14"x21" portfolio of eight large (10¼"x17") tipped-on color plates featured full-length portraits of famous actors of the day. Each actor or actress (four each) is shown in full costume and make-up for a major character role. Joseph Jefferson (at right) is Rip Van Winkle, Richard Mansfield is Cyrano, Ellen Terry is Portia and Maude Adams is "Babbie".

There are other large-format books of the era that feature Christy images, but this portfolio is fairly unique in that the plates were done especially for this presentation and appeared here for the first time. Scribner's was selling these based on the Christy name, and they must have been fairly confident in his popularity to risk what must have been a considerable investment in a unique presentation.

Christy appeared regularly in magazines through 1905. At right is a rather tentative two-color cover for the January 1900 issue of The Ladies Home Journal. The early 1900's were a period of intense effort. His work appeared in more and more books and in all the major magazines of the day - Harpers, Scribner's, Century, McClures, etc. The books were illustrated primarily in b&w, but as color printing became more prevalent, Christy's abilities with color were also very much in demand. A partial list of these early books includes:

1899: The Lion & The Unicorn (R.H. Davis)

1900: Wanted ~ A Matchmaker (P.L. Ford),

1901: The Cavalier (George W. Cable), The Crisis (Winston Churchill), The Dolly Dialogues (Anthony Hope), Heroines of Fiction (W.D. Howells), The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock (Thomas Nelson Page), The Ways of the Service (Frederick Palmer)

1902: Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (Charles Major), The Fifth String (John Philip Sousa), La Lettre D'Amour in Ranson's Folly (R.H. Davis), The Maid-At-Arms (Robt. W. Chambers), Wanted ~ A Chaperon (P.L. Ford)

1903: The Courtship of Miles Standish (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), Lady Rose's Daughter (Mrs. Humphry Ward), An Old Sweetheart of Mine (James Whitcomb Riley), The Under Dog (F. Hopkinson Smith), Under the Rose (Frederic S. Isham)

1904: The Castaway (Hallie Erminie Rives), Her Infinite Variety (Brand Whitlock)

1905: Drawings (in the large oblong folio format of the Gibson books), Evangeline (H.W. Longfellow), House of a Thousand Candles (Meredith Nicholson)

See another plate from "The Lady of the Lake" in ImageS #5.

In 1903, with Miles Standish (from whom the Christy family could trace descent) in color and An Old Sweetheart in photogravure, Christy helped inaugurate the gift book format. He would do several others over the years, including The American Girl and The Christy Girl, both in 1906. Two of my favorites are Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake in 1910 (above) and the companion Tennyson volume, The Princess in 1911. Both were large-format, color-plate books with additional two-color illustrations throughout on every page.

 

The patriotism he displayed in the Spanish-American war was rekindled during WWI. He drew upon that fervor and his tremendous talent to create posters for the war effort. Among the most popular were his Red Cross and Navy images, both featuring the famous Christy Girl. A lesser-known, similar image appeared in the 1921 Naval Academy yearbook, The Lucky Bag (see below).

Between 1905 and the beginning of the war, Christy was one of the most popular artists in America. He was an occasional teacher at the best New York illustration schools: The Art Students League, Cooper Union, The New York School of Art and the Chase School that was founded by his early instructor. Most of this period was spent back in Ohio where he had built a studio.

The book and magazine market changed drastically after the war, and Christy changed with it. He painted portraits instead. Such was his popularity that he painted Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover (as well as past Presidents James Garfield, Martin Van Buren and James Polk), celebrities like Will Rogers, Eddie Rickenbacker and Amelia Earhart, and powerful figures like Benito Mussolini and Mr. and Mrs. William Randolph Hearst. Throughout the decade of the 1920's, when he wasn't traveling, he lived in New York City and had his studio at the Hotel des Artistes. On the ground floor was the Cafe des Artistes, where his wonderful murals of nudes are still on display. The images at left and right are from their website.

The Depression of the 1930's put a damper on his life as a bon vivant. Still, he worked practically incessantly - whether for commission or for himself. Many lively nudes showed that the Christy Girl was, indeed, approachable. His murals adorn the Ohio Statehouse and his most famous painting is the huge Scene of the Signing of the Constitution of the United States which hangs in the nation's Capitol.

 

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