The Old Print Shop

A. B. Frost

1851 - 1928

Albert Burdett Frost was a prolific American painter, printmaker, illustrator and cartoonist, whose work was published in numerous magazines, including Harper's Weekly, Scribner's, Life, and Century Magazine. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frost is considered one of the great artists of the "Golden Age of American Illustration." While his work spans many genres, he is best known for his hunting and shooting prints.

Frost had a bit of a rocky start in the art world. He was apprenticed to an engraving and lithography shop as a teen, where his teachers claimed he had no talent for the field. Despite this, one of Frost's friends encouraged him to continue and in 1874 "Out of the Hurly Burly", written by Max Adeler, was published with his illustrations. He would also illustrate two books by Lewis Carroll by the end of 1885. Their success encouraged Frost to write and illustrate his own stories, which appeared in magazines like Harper's Weekly and were widely accepted. Frost's ability to capture movement within his imagery was credited with influencing early cartoonists, such as Richard Outcault and Fred Opper, both of whom were pioneers of the modern cartoon strip.

Frost began working at Harper and Brothers in 1876, where he worked alongside of and learned from such greats as Thomas Nast, Frederic Remington and Charles Stanley Reinhart. His ability to capture events with pictorial realism made him even more notable outside of the cartooning world as time progressed, although his impact would never be forgotten.

 

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