Support our campaign and get a free giclée print!

We have a unique opportunity to bring two stunning pieces – Indian Summer and a newly rediscovered pastel landscape – into the Foundation's collection, preserving them for the public and future generations.

To do this, we need your help to raise $6,800 by October 31st. A generous private donor has pledged to match funds, so if we raise $3,400, they'll donate the rest!

As a token of appreciation for anyone donating over $100, we'll send a giclee paper print of your choice from our collection. Scroll through the images below to see the illustrations included in the offer.

Printed on Hahnemühle Torchon, a high-quality, 285 gsm acid-free fine art paper with a parchment-like surface, providing exceptional image sharpness, color accuracy, and water resistance.

Prints will come in a range of sizes, depending on the scale of the original illustration's dimensions, but won’t be larger than 16" on the longest edge. Email olivia@walterheverett.com for more information.

Click the link below to contribute to this wonderful cause and become part of preserving these masterpieces for future generations. Thank you for your support!

Part 2: A Unique Talent Makes His Mark (1911 - 1921)

By Kevin Ferrara

---

Walter Everett’s early professional work was as mercurial and interesting as he was. Whereas most illustrators kept at one style that relied on a single technique, Everett was adept at a host of different styles and seemingly any medium he turned his hand to. He produced professional works on deadline in oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, charcoal, and pencil. It didn’t seem to matter what pigment or substrate he used, when he put his mind to it, every method yielded to his artistic will. He was that rare combination of born artist and born craftsman. 

While thriving in the highly competitive illustration market, Everett constantly pushed his already formidable technical expertise. He hand-cut and shaped his painting brushes to ensure the quality and fidelity of his tools for those key moments of ‘action’ at his easel.5 Obsessed with the language of brushwork, he became a virtuoso of laying down in one go confident and descriptive paint strokes, creating work that feels as fresh as an impromptu performance, even on the poorly-printed page.

Everett exhibited his mastery most theatrically via monotype; a method of painting on glass in sepia and pulling off a print before the pigment dried. Everett may have been the only illustrator in the Pre-War period with the intense imaginative concentration, accuracy of drawing, and blazing speed to pull off this technique professionally. It was one of his calling cards, and his editors at Curtis publishing drew attention to it by crediting such illustrations ‘Monotype by Walter Everett.’ 

Clearly an avid museum and exhibition-goer, Everett was passionate about both the current state of the fine and decorative art world and its deep plumbing of art history. He had a voracious mind; appreciated and analyzed keenly. He saw all around him the world of modern culture and Art bursting with interesting new ideas worth pursuing. And Everett had no fear of experimenting with his Art in public to incorporate these heady au courant influences.

He created beautiful pieces in the turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau style. He crafted graphic posters. He adapted Assyrian motifs, Egyptian decorations, Japanese Screens, Stained Glass Windows, Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, and Blackletter Calligraphy into otherwise naturalistic work. He learned the lessons of Impressionism and Tonalism, and developed his own brand of Cartooning.

Everett was acutely aware of the merit of other artists too, besides the work of his mentor. He was heavily influenced by the thick decorative painting and early modernist abstractions and patterning of Frank Brangywn and the striking brushstrokes and sparkling rendering of J.C. Leyendecker and Henry Reuterdahl.

Yet with all this outside content pouring into him, he integrated it all. He was one of the rare few who could incorporate a multitude of styles and artistic eras into his work without losing what was unique in himself.

Everett became a star in the illustration world at about the same time that his great mentor and teacher Howard Pyle unexpectedly passed away. Following in his mentor’s footsteps, while still at the height of his powers, Everett began a parallel teaching career at his alma mater PMSIA passing on Pyle’s principles.6 With his top-shelf training and experience – and his innate gift for inspiring young talent - he had much to give his students. And he molded many callow artists quite quickly into the next generation of illustration pros.

Much of what is known about Everett as both a character and a talent comes from the reports of his students during his teaching days. Anecdotes attest to his personal magnetism, his whimsical nature, his penchant for dreaming and flights of poetic fancy. Also his constant roiling creativity, which resulted in a somewhat brisk intolerance for the mundane and rote. Everett was quickly annoyed at the walled-in classroom setting for the teaching of Art. As an antidote, he would readily take his class on impromptu field trips to experience the wonderment of sketching from nature first hand; of course accompanied by his observant guidance. Just as Howard Pyle had done for he and his classmates years earlier.7

As an in-class demonstrator, even half a century later his students would attest to Everett’s astonishing facility with paintbrush and charcoal. A true virtuoso, he dazzled his pupils at the easel and drawing board with his visual memory, speed and accuracy. His top students – fired by not only the quality of their teacher but how quickly they were advancing in their own art - became fiercely loyal to him. And as word spread of Everett as the natural successor to Howard Pyle as the teacher of the very popular “Brandywine-style” Illustration, his classes grew and grew.

For PMSIA, having Everett around was a boon; registrations skyrocketed. But for Everett – famous, driven, and quirky - the responsibilities began adding up beyond a sum he was able to tolerate. Giving back was taking too much of him. 

He left PMSIA, but briefly came back to academia to fill in at the Spring Garden Institute in New Jersey for a former student who had been called up in the World War One draft. But as the 1920s began, Everett clearly decided he needed to retrench as a creative force once and for all. He still periodically gave lectures on aspects of illustration art thereafter, but in the main he rededicated himself to being solely an artist.

“1. Benjamin and Jane Sperry Eisenstat, “Methods of the Masters: Walter Everett,” Step By Step Graphics, January, 1988, 110-111.
2. Henry C. Pitz, “Four Disciples of Howard Pyle” American Artist Magazine, January 1969, 38.
3. Benjamin and Jane Sperry Eisenstat, “Methods of the Masters: Walter Everett,” Step By Step Graphics, January, 1988, 116.”

Part 1: Master and Apprentice (1900 - 1910)

By Kevin Ferrara

---

Walter Hunt Everett was born in the trolley town of Haddonfield New Jersey in 1880; at the dawn of what came to be called The Golden Age of American Illustration.

Even in early childhood Everett showed a fascination for artistic depiction; filling notebooks with precocious drawings of animals and outdoor scenes. While still a teen, he became a prize-winning student at the prestigious Pennsylvania Museum & School of Industrial Art (PMSIA). 1 But though that rigorous technical school gave him much needed skill for the burgeoning commercial art field of the day, Everett was at heart a poet and a dreamer; and to make a profession of that entailed a different kind of training entirely.

If any one man could be said to best represent The Golden Age of American Illustration it was Howard Pyle. A national cultural force, Pyle was not only the top illustrator of his day and a pioneer in the field – at a time when fine art and illustration were essentially one – he was also a teacher who trained and ushered into his heady and popular field many of the top young talents of the subsequent era.

Everett entered all three of Pyle’s popular illustration classes at Drexel University in the Fall of 1899.2 And there he found a true master under which to apprentice; an accomplished, dedicated Artist with both practical knowledge of the field and an artistic soul.

When Pyle decided to depart Drexel the following year and form his own School of Art catering only to the most promising hand-picked talents, Walter Everett was one of only a handful that made the grade. So in 1900 Everett attended Pyle’s Wilmington Composition Lectures3 and advanced summer program in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania along with fellow soon-to-be-famous Pyle School alumnus, Frank Schoonover and Stanley Arthurs.4

Pyle’s mentoring was at turns completely pragmatic, then wondrous and elevated. He required that his students research their subjects thoroughly, costume their characters with authenticity and construct objects and settings with the expertise of a carpenter. But he also wanted them to be poetic and suggestive, standing against the explicit and matter-of-fact at every turn. Pyle was also against the academic, against the slavish drawing of classical statues or the copying of the tired nude model on the stand in charcoal and paint. He wanted his students to always be thinking pictorially. To dream, to live inside their pictures, to put their hearts and souls onto canvas. He wanted their works to be evocative and full of mystery and beauty and the appreciation of the natural world. But he also wanted them to get work done on deadline properly prepared for press reproduction.

With this level of bandwidth demanded of his protégés, obviously only the most determined, intelligent and imaginative young artists survived the gauntlet.

When Pyle deemed Walter Everett ready – only a scant year into his training - he ushered the twenty-year-old into the field with an assignment to illustrate for a classic anthology of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories.5 Everett was shaky at first as he acclimated to the real world of pressure, deadlines and art directors, but quickly, almost preternaturally for such a young man, he professionalized and proved every bit the artist Pyle thought he might become.

Everett found steady work at the Curtis Publishing Company of Philadelphia, the top magazine outfit of the era, earning regular spots in Curtis’ top selling and most culturally impactful titles including, and especially, the revered Saturday Evening Post, the nation’s most widely circulated periodical.  Here he became famous for performing his illustrative and illustrious art week after week on the top national stage.

1. The Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (Twenty Third Annual Report of the Trustees). Philadelphia, 1899. Supplemental Report For the Six Months Ending May 31, 1899, 44.

2. Drexel University, Record Book, Day Students – Art Department, 1899-1900, 31. Entry for Walter H. Everett, Haddonfield, N.J., Illustration I, II, III.

3. Henry C. Pitz, “Four Disciples of Howard Pyle” American Artist Magazine, January 1969, 38.

4. June 6, 1900. Twelfth Census of the United States, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Schedule No. 1 - Population, Birmingham Township (Chadds Ford), p. 51-A (stamped), enumeration district No. 140, sheet 5, dwelling 78, family 81 Walter H. Everett; boarder (with Philip Hoyt, Stanley Arthurs and Frank Schoonover).

5. Howard Pyle, letter to Winthrop Scuder, Editor at Houghton-Mifflin, September 20, 1900, Houghton-Mifflin Collection, Harvard University.

6. "Magazine Illustrators: Well-Known Artists at Play," The Saturday Evening Post, September 4, 1909

Preserving A Legacy: Announcing the Walter H. Everett Foundation

As the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Walter H. Everett, we have been honored to share his work and protect the handful of illustrations remaining within our family. The reception by fans of Walter’s worldwide to our social media pages has been nothing short of astounding to us and we are so glad to know his legacy continues.

Today, we are excited to announce both the official formation of the Walter H Everett Foundation as well as the gift of The Mark Everett Family Collection to the Foundation. This collection includes all 65 original works and early edition prints previously owned by Walter H Everett’s grandson and his wife, Mark and Gloria Everett. Through their generosity and foresight, this new institution and the founding gift ensure that Walter's legacy in illustration and American art will be preserved and celebrated for generations to come.

The mission of the Walter H Everett Foundation is to preserve, enhance, and promote the collection of works by and artistic practices of Walter H Everett for the benefit of American art history. As a 501c3 private operating foundation, we are governed by an independent board of directors and able to accept donations of original works bequests, and operate programs to make these works available to the public. This means that collectors and Walter’s fans can make tax-deductible contributions of artwork as well as money and other gifts to support our mission.

We also have a shiny new logo to unveil! The logo was inspired by Walter’s iconic “E” monograms that he used throughout his early career. It blends some of the more iconic curved elements of the 1910 version with the tapered serif bars of his later harder edged design. Thank you to Ken Dille, great-grandson of Walter H Everett and designer with General Design Studio, for collaborating with us on the design.

As a family, we talked a lot about the highest purpose for art and stories in our care. We feel a big advantage to having all the works stay together was being able to see his process in crafting the works and his evolution as an artist over his career. So it was critical to us to make sure that we didn’t see this as personal treasure but we see ourselves as stewards of a great gift, especially because of the interest we have received by artists worldwide and because the fires taught us how delicate this collection is.

One option was to donate the works to an institution that already exists, for example, a museum. Through talking with established institutions, we quickly came to realize that the reality is that although we could be confident in their care, Walter's work would probably be fated for the archives. There simply isn’t enough known or a relevant enough case for his work in the history of illustration to allow for its permanent display and most museums don't have the resources or bandwidth to do the curatorial footwork to research a relatively obscure artist, no matter how masterful.

So, with some time on our hands during the pandemic and the generosity of our founders, we thought “This is a great ‘plan b’” and decided to see if we couldn't do some of the leg work on our own – that's where the idea of a private foundation came up.

So far we have used our limited resources to commission high-quality scans of the entire Mark Everett Family Collection as well as several loaned to us by other descendants, we have professionally restored one especially delicate work that was gifted back to the collection, we have moved all the works to a top secure climate controlled facility, and we have been maintaining our Instagram and Facebook accounts to share these illustrations with the public.

As for what’s next… We hope to continue finding new ways to create meaningful opportunities and connections with Walter’s audience through virtual and live seminars, educational videos, intimate showings, partnerships and exhibitions, and high-quality reproductions and products for sale. We can’t wait to show you what we have in store!

And a sincere thank you to everyone who has been a part of our growing community - you are why we do what we do.

Hit “follow” on our blog to keep up to date, donate, and support our mission.

Fourteen New Images Released

We are proud to say that all existing works in the Everett Family Collection have been professionally scanned and uploaded to the Collections page of this site! Be sure to check it out. As we continue to source the original publication information for these and all WHE works, we will update the site so stay tuned for additional notes and a complete bibliography. This would not be possible without the research and passion of our friend Kevin Ferrara who has generously shared his entire catalog of original research on our great grandfather, Walter H Everett.

Limited Edition Prints Available

The Everett Family Trust is releasing a limited number of museum-quality original scale canvas prints from the family’s private collection. Proceeds from these sales will be used to conserve works in the collection as well as advance public awareness and access to Walter H Everett’s artistry and body of work.

Currently, we are releasing Pan Playing Flute (up to 25 prints will be released; $1,500) and Trees on the Farm (up to 50 prints will be released; $1,250) available. All our prints are a 1:1 scale using museum-quality pigments on 100% cotton stretched canvas. We also offer the option to have the prints pre-framed with solid wood floating frames for an additional $300-$350. Prices do not include shipping and tax.

Did you have your heart set on another work? Let us know! We are always interested to know what fan favorites are to help us in selecting the next releases. Pricing will vary from work to work.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact us!