Biography
Booth was born and raised on a farm in Carmel, Indiana. As a boy, he was determined to become an artist. He studied pictures in books and magazines, including Scribner's and Harper's. His unusual technique was the result of a misunderstanding: Booth scrupulously copied magazine illustrations which he thought were pen-and-ink drawings. In fact, they were wood engravings. As a result, this led him to develop a style of drawing composed of thousands of lines, whose careful positioning next to one another produced variations in density and shade. The characteristics of his art were his scale extremes with large buildings and forests looming over tiny figures, decorative scrolls and borders, classic hand lettering and gnarled trees.
Booth was primarily a commercial artist, and his illustrations appeared in The Century Magazine, Everybody's Magazine, McClure's, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, House & Garden and Ladies' Home Journal. He also created advertising art for Bulova Watches, Estey Organ, GE, Overland, Paramount Pictures, Rolls-Royce, Studebaker, Wallace Silver and Whitman's Candy.
Booth lived in to the suburban city of New Rochelle, a well known artist colony and home to many of the top commercial illustrators of the day.
Read more about this topic: Franklin Booth
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