The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"

The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"

Howard Pyle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pyle is considered the father of American illustration. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, he became interested in art and writing as a boy, studied in Philadelphia and then New York, at the Art Students League. In 1878, a drawing accepted by Harper's Weekly helped to launch his career and the artist returned to Delaware in 1880. Over the next three decades Pyle wrote and illustrated a series of now iconic works and became an influential teacher. Aware of contemporary European innovations, he skillfully adapted his style to suit a range of subjects. This design first appeared in Harper's "Young People," February 23,1886 titled "The Master of Black Arts with a Hen," and was used to illustrate the story "The Clever Student and Master of the Black-Arts" Here, the artist redrew it for "The Wonder Clock," a book published by Harper Brothers in 1888. The related image appears in story V on page 58.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"The Master of the Black Arts Bringeth a Curious Little Black Hen to the King, for "The Wonder Clock"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.