"Family Picnic, Saturday Evening Post Cover" Lot no. 170
By John Ford Clymer (American- 1907-1989)
1952
34.00" x 27.00", Framed 41.00" x 35.00"
Oil on Canvas
Signed Lower Left
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Cover for The Saturday Evening Post Magazine, May 31, 1952.
Clymer's coverscape takes you to Massachusetts' tidelands where the frost is on the pumpkin and the red and gold areon the trees. Gloucester harbor and the inlets roundabout-- for three centuries this haven has been the homeport of renowned and valiant fisherman. They were the Captains Courageous of Rudyard Kipling, the hero’s of Longfellow's The Wreck of the Hesperus and of James B. Connolly's tales of the sea.
The Post described, “Having got themselves healthily rested by sitting indoors all winter, these folks will now ascend the Olympic Mountains on a picnic and get so tired out that they won't fully recover until about time to go away on their summer vacation and get exhausted all over again. Confession: ignore that remark — it is sour grapes because we aren't on the picnic too. Well, editors can't be choosers, and anyway it does almost seem as if we could touch that purple lupine, and breathe that fir-scented air, and feel the calming imminence of the great hills. To work this sorcery, John Clymer must have whittled his brush handle out of a magic wand. Afterthought: this is the only paragraph ever written about a picnic which does not mention ants.”
John Ford Clymer's success as an artist can be traced to his boyhood in the Kittitas Valley located in the central regions of Washington state. It was there that he developed an enthusiasm for the world around him and an abiding respect for historical accuracy. Over the years John Clymer received numerous awards and honors including the revered Prix de West in 1976, from the national Academy of Western Art. Other great achievements included both gold and silver metals for his oils and charcoal drawings from the Cowboy Artists of America, "Western Artist of the Year" from the National Wildlife Art Collectors Society, and both John and Doris were honored at the Ellensburg National Art Show and Auction for their contributions to western heritage. John's highest honor came in 1988 when he was awarded the prestigious Rungius Medal from the Wildlife of American West Art Museum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for his painting "Late Arrivals-Green River Rendezvous".
Exhibitions:
Norman Rockwell Museum Exhibition at South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota, May 5, 2015 - September 13, 2015
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See all original artwork by John Ford Clymer
ABOUT THE ARTIST
John Clymer was born in Ellensburg, Washington. His art education was acquired at the Vancouver School of Fine Art, the Ontario College of Art in Port Hope, Canada, as well as at the Wilmington Society of Fine Arts in Delaware, and the Grand Central School of Art in New York. With this background, his loyalties had ever since been divided between the United States and Canada.
Clymer's first illustrations were made for Canadian publications, followed by American Pulps, which lead to editorial assignments for most of the American magazines, numerous advertising campaigns, and an extensive series of the paintings of historic episodes for the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
His paintings have been exhibited widely in both countries as well, with the North West Artists in Seattle, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy in Toronto, Canada (where he was an Associate member), the National Academy in New York, the Salmagundi Club, the Society of Animal Artists, and the Hudson Valley Artists. Clymer was an exhibiting member of the Cowboy Artists and the National Academy of Western Art, winning numerous awards. His biography John Clymer, An Artist's Rendevous with the Frontier West was published by Northland Pree in 1976. He was elected to the society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1982.