Franklin Booth: Silent Symphony

Franklin Booth: Silent Symphony is a massive, 304-page book featuring over 400 pieces that span the artist’s entire career. Accompanying photos of Franklin Booth (1874-1948), his family, friends and colleagues—along with illustrations by his peers and inspirations—add nearly fifty more images. A new essay by the award-winning illustrator and professor Alice A. Carter delves into Booth’s life. This biography highlights his childhood in Indiana, family life and the earliest days of his professional career, his road trips, studio life and teaching career with intimate stories and much more. Quotes of first-hand encounters with Booth by his students, friends and fellow artists also are shared.

Pen-and-ink drawings cover a fifty-year span—from Booth’s earliest days to his final works. These include his story illustrations for top magazines of the time, plus a diverse and rare assortment of pieces made for poems, advertisements and prints. Book illustrations completed in color as well as pen-and-ink also are featured, along with rare sketches for an unrealized project. All art was scanned and photographed from its original source material using the latest technology and has been painstakingly prepped for this publication.

Franklin Booth’s meticulous and unique pen technique has been revered by artists and students for the last hundred years. No one has ever been able to duplicate his style. Booth utilized his own life, philosophies and experiences as vehicles to project his thoughts to the viewer, which makes his work deeply compelling and infused with his respect for nature and art. He always listened to his own voice and developed a style that was not a natural product of his era. This allowed his work to become timeless and to continue capturing audiences today.

Franklin Booth’s influence can still be seen in modern comic books, fantasy illustrations, concept art and films. The magnitude of his art is made for the big screen, with his figures in epic scenes. His work has made its way through decades of shifting genres and changes in the art world and is still as immediate today as it was in the early twentieth century.