Cover Gallery: Setting Sail

Have the doldrums? These illustrations of schooners and sloops will buoy your spirits in no time.

Cover
Grip of Honor
By George Gibbs
February 24, 1900

Illustrator George Gibbs was also an author, having written more than 50 books. Most of his books fell into the the spy and adventure genres, making him a perfect fit to paint this cover to accompany Cyrus Townsend Brady’s story. Gibbs was the illustrator of the first color cover of the Saturday Evening Post, which was published on December 30, 1899.

 

Cover
Yacht Race
Artist Unknown
August 17, 1901

This cover by an unknown artist was drawn a year after sailing first debuted at the Olympics, in Paris, France in 1900. A Swiss sailor at the games,  Hélène de Pourtalès, was the first ever female Gold medalist of the modern Olympic era, according to sailing.org.

 

Cover
Iceboat
By Eugene Iverd
February 04, 1928

Artist Eugene Iverd grew up in Minnesota, giving him plenty of opportunities to observe ice boating. Iverd was known for painting indelible childhood moments of kids around the campfire, on the football field, in the swimming pool, or on a windswept, frozen lake.

 

Cover
America’s Cup Race
By Anton Otto Fischer
September 20, 1930

Anton Otto Fischer painted hundreds of covers and interior illustrations for the Post. He also illustrated books such as Moby Dick, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

 

Cover
Yacht and Steamship
By Anton Otto Fischer
January 23, 1932

This Fischer illustration beautifully captures a moment of drama and also serves as a metaphor for the encroachment of the industrial age over the old ways.

 

Cover
Yarn Spinner
By Norman Rockwell
November 8, 1930

This illustration by Norman Rockwell is a departure from his typical “slice-of-America” scenes.

 

Cover
Dolphins and Ship
By Gordon Grant
September 29, 1934

Artist Gordon Grant was well known for his maritime covers, particularly his watercolor of the USS Constitution. He was also the cover designer for the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook in 1911.

 

Cover
S. S. Romance
By Charles R. Chickering
May 09, 1936

Charles Chickering got his start as a medical illustrator of the wounded and dead during the World War I, and went on to a career as a postage stamp designer, before painting this winsome cover for the Post.

 

Cover
Sailboat Regatta
By Ski Weld
June 29, 1940

Ski Weld’s covers always depicted action – skiers jumping, snow geese flying, or, in this case, a stunning regatta of boats sailing.

 

Cover
Navigating Through Icebergs
By Dale Nichols
July 19, 1941

Dale Nichols was best known for his paintings of red barns in rural, Midwestern landscapes. This northern scene was a departure from his usual subject matter.

 

Cover
Seasick Sailor
By Richard Sargent
August 22, 1959

Artist Richard Sargent (1911-1979) painted 47 Post covers between 1951 and 1962, when photographs were rapidly replacing magazine illustrations. Sargent often used a playful narrative style where one picture did indeed express a thousand words.