Held, John, Jr. 1889-1958

ILLUSTRATOR

Illustrator of the Jazz Age.

The work of John Held Jr. so accurately delineated and parodied the new fashions of the 1920s that his illustrations became guides for the conduct and costume of flaming youth. He was the most popular and highest-paid artist of the decade, appearing in Life, Judge, The New Yorker, College Humor, and Vanity Fair. If a magazine had circulation problems, it commissioned a Held cover. He drew syndicated comic strips; he provided dust-jacket art; he made blockprints; he sculpted; he painted landscapes and cityscapes; he designed theater sets and costumes.

Apprenticeship.

Held was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, where his father was a musician and an illustrator. He had no formal art training, apart from working in his father's engraving shop. Held attended grade school and high school intermittently, but at fourteen he was a cartoonist for the...

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