Founded in 1911, Boys’ Life magazine, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, debuted one year after the scouting organization began promoting education, entertainment, community service and outdoor adventures to American boys. The Boy Scouts of America celebrates its 106th year in 2016 and continues to serve more than 2 million members. This exhibition of works on paper highlights rarely displayed illustrations created by Enos B. Comstock (1879-1945) and his son Henry B. Comstock (1908-2003), who continued his father’s artistic legacy. Original images of playful animal characters, detailed renderings of trains and patriotic illustrations published both in Boys’ Life and in several children’s books illustrated by Enos B. Comstock, are displayed alongside reproductions of the popular magazine and examples of the books.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Enos B. Comstock was a prolific artist, illustrator and writer during the Golden Age of Illustration (1880-1920). Comstock studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and later married artist Frances Bassett (1881-1922). In addition to illustrating stories for Boys’ Life, Comstock wrote and illustrated numerous children’s books including Tuck-Me-In Rhymes, Fairy Frolics, She and Allan and When Mother Lets Us Tell Stories. His son Henry Comstock illustrated science fiction stories for Boys’ Life and published articles in other periodicals and books such as his self-authored The Iron Horse, an illustrated history of the steam locomotive. The Comstocks were important illustrators for Boys’ Life magazine which also published images by renowned artist Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) beginning in 1912. Other illustrators for the magazine included Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951), Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952), Dean Cornwell (1892-1960), and Joseph Csatari (born 1929).
Boys’ Life seeks to entertain and educate America’s youth and to introduce them to the joys of reading through lively stories and newsworthy information about nature, sports, history, fiction, science, comics, and scouting. By the turn of the 20th century, advances in graphic design technology made it possible to mass produce detailed illustrations for books and magazines. The commercial art industry flourished and illustrations appeared in magazines and periodicals such as The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s Weekly, Life magazine, and Boys’ Life.
The drawings in this exhibition were recently gifted to the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts by artist Enos B. Comstock’s granddaughter and Henry B. Comstock’s daughter, Carol Comstock Faille.
