Fall Horseback Ride

Most of the 80-plus Post covers by John Clymer feature natural settings: a shimmering lake surrounded by summer greenery, a charming New England harbor enveloped by snow, and, of course, views like the one at left of Washington, the beautiful state from which the artist hailed.

The riders are passing through a forest of tamaracks, which possess a rare trait among conifers; the needles turn gold in the autumn and fall to the forest floor. The fallen needles reflect the light, giving the ground an almost luminescent quality.

“In fall, every tamarack forest byway becomes a yellow brick road down which you can skip in a haze of glowing splendor,” writes Lori Micken in an online column for Montana Outdoors. The tamarack is a common sight in Clymer’s home state, and in this Post cover he captured just such a yellow brick road in Wilson Canyon, Washington.

Fall Harvest

The corn hanging on a neighbor’s barn in Arlington, Vermont, inspired John Atherton to begin sketching the harvest still life (left). “Knowing any harvest picture would need a pumpkin, he went into the garden and got one,” wrote Post editors in 1945. Deciding autumn leaves were needed, the artist gathered some along the road. Ferns would also add to the arrangement, so out he went to gather a few. The ferns died very quickly, and he gathered more. “By the time he had set his stage, Mr. Atherton had done quite a little of harvesting himself,” wrote the editors.

Between 1942 and 1961 Atherton painted 47 Post covers. His style was realism, known for its accurate, almost photographic portrayal of its subjects. This was a far cry from the idealized images depicted by his friend, Norman Rockwell. Atherton’s critical attitude to such sentimentality is noted in the feature, “Till the Cows Come Home.” But the painter was not completely immune to sentiment: Note the initials carved in the beam at left, presumably signifying the love between him and his wife Maxine Breeze.

Fall Leaves

“The making of a portrait is an imaginative work, because of the blending of two personalities, the sitter and the artist,” William Haskell Coffin (1878-1941) told Charleston, South Carolina, reporters upon returning to his hometown.

Coffin studied portraiture while at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and in Europe. But the formative years of his artistic career were spent in New York, where he won critical acclaim painting portraits of the chorus girls from Ziegfeld’s Follies—some of whom modeled for his 32 Post covers.

The attractive young women were often posed with a single object, such as a book or floral bouquet. In this 1927 illustration, the props are merely a few autumn leaves, some gray clouds, and the chill autumn breeze.

Apple Picking Time

“It has to be a love affair every time,” artist John Falter said about his work. “If you aren’t in love with what you are trying to put on canvas, you’d better quit.”

Falter started the painting at left by sketching the barns and rail fence at a farm near Weston, Missouri, and then completed it at his home in Pennsylvania. The trees, the apple pickers, and the farm woman were done from memory. As Post editors noted in 1947: “It wasn’t hard to recall similar scenes from his own boyhood (in Nebraska), although as he worked, the phase of apple picking Falter recalled most vividly was fresh apple pie.”

One of the Post’s most popular illustrators, Falter did more than 125 covers frequently employing a bird’s eye view of the scene. (See “Can You Guess the City?”)

Bring Home Pumpkins

“Falter’s masterful treatment of light stems from the fact that he is a nature lover, and happily gifted to reflect her moods,” wrote the Post in 1971. “Most of his paintings interrelate human and natural life, and Falter seems ever drawn to the sky.”

The sky in this 1952 cover is nearly black, allowing the artist to contrast the golden haystacks with light from an unknown source, be that parking lot lights or lanterns. The blues, greens, and reds from the family heading back with their trophies add a needed dash of color.

Girl Walking to School

In the heart of the Golden Age of Illustration, Sarah Stilwell-Weber (1878-1939) trained under the best: Howard Pyle. He and fellow students, such as Post illustrator N.C. Wyeth, greatly influenced her work.

A prolific artist, she illustrated over 65 Post covers between 1904 and 1925. During this period, she also worked for many other leading magazines, including Vogue, Collier’s, and Better Homes and Gardens.

Sleeping Farmer

This landscape from 1947 was about as sentimental as artist John Atherton got. Most of his 47 Saturday Evening Post covers were still life studies, or a factory, a grain elevator, etc. He detested human-interest or sentimental covers.

Once he asked his friend Norman Rockwell what he was working on. “Oh, you don’t want to know, Jack,” Rockwell replied. Atherton insisted until a very reluctant Rockwell spilled the sappy details of a painting for a Boy Scout calendar where the boys are looking reverently at a cloudy image of George Washington praying. “Jack grunted horribly and grabbed at his back, twisting about in his chair as if he’d been stabbed,” Rockwell recalled. “But Jack was deeply loyal. If anyone else disparaged my work, he’d light into them.” Atherton knew what he was good at and that nobody was better than Rockwell at what he did.

Surveying the Cow Pasture

It is intimidating to have several large beasts staring at you while you work. Fortunately, despite their full-sized figures, they tend to be gentle animals. The surveyor’s biggest fear should be stepping in a cow pie.

Artist Amos Sewell illustrated 45 Saturday Evening Post covers, and well over a hundred fictional stories within the magazine.

Yakima River Cattle Roundup

“When I got into my early teens, like all boys, I got to wondering what in the world could I do to make a living and live in the mountains? One day I got to thinking about it and thought, That’s it! I’ll paint pictures and then I can live wherever I want to live,” said John Clymer. Where he lived as a boy was not far from this view of the Yakima River in Washington.

For 20 years, from 1942 to 1962, Clymer illustrated nearly 90 Post covers, most of them scenic and many, like this one from 1958, pretty enough to momentarily take your breath away. He and his father did not round up cattle as we see here, but editors inform us that they did fish the Yakima “for trout and, furthermore, caught some.”

Slow Mooving Traffic

Well, this is disruptive. One might say—all together now—udder chaos. Artist Ben Prins got the idea for this illustration, which was his first Post cover, because he had been in a similar situation where he “performed heroically as one of the toreadors,” claimed Post editors.

Little Cowboy Takes a Licking

The little cowpoke is certainly dressed for the part, but we wonder if he will ever be a hardcore ranch hand. This 1938 cover was by our most prolific artist, J.C. Leyendecker. He illustrated Post covers over a remarkable time span, from 1899 to 1943, often sumptuous and elaborate art of elegant ladies or gentlemen. So it comes as a delightful surprise when we find the artist’s humorous side.

Shoo the Moos

Before dragging grandma and baby through the barbed-wire fence, dad might want to wait and see if the cows will cooperate and vacate this ideal picnic spot (click on the artwork for a larger image).

Post editors noted that the bovines were not all that obliging when artist Stevan Dohanos was painting this 1950 cover. A cow aimed north by the local dairyman would stubbornly decide to go east or west. And as we can see, the white cow seems disinclined to move at all. This cover was painted in Westport, Connecticut, at the “Blue Ribbon Dairy Farm and Cow-Posing Academy.”

No Hunting – Douglass Crockwell

I’ve always gotten a chuckle from this 1939 cover by artist Douglass Crockwell. No only did this hunter ignore the warning, he’s mad enough to add his own commentary – under the big “NO HUNTING” letters he’s scribbling, “You’re telling me.” Notice that the artist simply signed his covers “Douglass”. This was to avoid confusion with another artist – some guy with a similar last name.

No Hunting – Leslie Thrasher

When this old guy says “No Hunting,” he means it! One might say there have been flagrant violators, since the sign is riddled with bullet holes. We’ve had some cover artists who were wonderful at painting old codgers, and Leslie Thrasher was one of them. This great cover is from 1914.

Springer Spaniels – J.F. Kernan

I’d know that white mustache anywhere; this old guy has been in many beautiful J.F. Kernan covers. This time he’s dressed for the hunt in 1930 and picking up the spaniels for the job. When the little guys grow up, they’ll be great hunters, too.

Duck Hunters – Robert Robinson

Now we all know that hunters and fishermen are the most honest and upright of sportsmen. But there’s not only this 1911 cover of an unsuccessful hunter buying someone else’s catch, there’s a cover a few years later depicting a fisherman doing the same thing. Who wants to go home after hours of hunting or fishing with nothing to show for it?

Patient Dog – John Atherton

This is a sweet one. World War II has taken the man of the house away and this beautiful dog is waiting patiently for his master to return and take him hunting. Not all of those waiting at home are two-legged.

Hunting Couple on Walk – J. Hennesy

It’s a crisp autumn day, and together time for this couple means hunting – or at least walking in the woods. Country Gentleman magazine was a sister publication to the Post for many years and often shared the same artists.