Draft:John Huehnergarth

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John Huehnergarth (June 21, 1925 - May 1, 2021) was an American illustrator and commercial artist. He illustrated books such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,^[1] How to Figure the Odds on Everything,^[2] and magazines such as TV Guide,^[3] Time^[4], Newsweek, Sports Illustrated^[5][6], Smithsonian, Saturday Evening Post^[7], Life, Business Week, National Geographic Society, and New York Times.

Early Life

Huehnergarth was born June 21, 1925 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father was Frederick Huehnergarth and his mother was Virginia Huehnergarth (née Lichty). When he was seven years old he created a comic series called "Woodboogie" to entertain his younger brother, Frederick Huehnergarth Jr., who was in poor health due to polio and unable to play outside. "Woodboogie" was a character based on an anthropomorphized clothes pin, inspired by watching his mother pin up laundry to dry on a clothes line. The Woodboogie comic series lasted many years and filled many pages, and its creativity was an early indicator of a prodigious talent which was later harnessed for a professional career.

Upon graduating high school, Huehnergarth enlisted in the U.S. army at the age of 18 and undertook basic training with the 136th AAA Gun Battalion C Battery in Camp Edwards, Massachusetts. Stationed near Antwerp, Belgium, the battalion moved through Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany in 1944-46 and took part in several battles including Normandy, Rhineland, and Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), .

While serving as an anti-aircraft gunner on an M16 half-track, Huehnergarth wrote home often to his mother and father. His letters included doodles and drawings of life in the army. Unexpectedly he received orders from General Claire Armstrong to report to the Antwerp Hotel headquarters. Censors who saw the drawings in his letters referred him for an assignment to help publicize the German V-1 buzz bomb campaign to the American public. This assignment led to a series of illustrations in the U.S. Army Historical Record of the 136th Anti Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (published 1945). The experience of seeing his illustrations published for the first time inspired him to use his talent professionally after the war. He received an honorary discharge and in 1946 he enrolled in the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1946.

Career

Huehnergarth began his career as an illustrator in Philadelphia after graduating from art school in 1950. His first paid assignment was to illustrate a lump of coal for a local coal distributor. He also created posters to advertise weekend dances held at the Philadelphia Army Reserve barracks. Gradually Huehnergarth established himself as an up and coming artist with illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland^[8] published in 1952 and regular contributions to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In October, 1957 his nascent reputation was poised to become national when he was hired by Life to provide the popular magazine's cover illustration. However, just before publication, news broke of the USSR's successful launch of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth, and Life editors opted to feature the Cold War 'Space Race' on the magazine's cover in lieu of Huehnergarth's work.

Within a few years Huehnergarth felt he had achieved all he could as a regional illustrator and left Philadelphia to establish a studio on New York's upper East side. He shared the studio with other aspiring creative professionals including Raymond Teller. There he earned a reputation among the creative community for originality and quick turnarounds and thousands of his drawings^[9] appeared nationally for a myriad of publications and ad campaigns. As an example of his ubiquity, he illustrated 12 covers for Newsweek magazine over a ten year period throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Huehnergarth remained active until his semi-retirement in 1987. His unique style evolved over the years and he often adapted the style of an illustration to suit the nature of the assignment. The range of his subjects and the diverse style in which he executed his work exemplifies a versatility across pen and ink drawings (with quill pen), brush, and full color renderings.

Personal Life

Huehnergarth married Martha A. Gwin (March 27, 1927 - February 25, 2024) on May 5, 1952. Ms. Gwin was also a graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia. They honeymooned at Split Rock Lodge in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

On August 19, 1953 the couple welcomed their first child, Ann Elise, and on July 22, 1958 their second child, Nils John, was born. In 1954 the couple purchased a home in Levittown Pennsylvania and relocated there from Philadelphia. In August 1969 the Huehnergarth family moved to Princeton, New Jersey where Huehnergarth worked from a home studio and socialized with other local illustrators and cartoonists Henry Martin, Arnold Roth, Michael Ramus, Marvin Friedman at a weekly luncheon^[10] at a local restaurant. Huehnergarth remained in Princeton until his death on May 1, 2021.