Channel Title: pete beard Channel Description: I had always thought that many illustrators from the past got nothing like the attention they deserved so I decided to make some videos about a few of these almost forgotten talents. The unsung heroes series was originally intended to be about illustrators from what's known as the golden age of illustration. But I soon realised that meant ignoring many early 20th century illustrators who strictly speaking didn't fit that description. So I compromised and ended up with parameters of those born between 1850 and 1910. There are also videos about individual illustrators who are personal favourites of mine, mostly but not exclusively from the early 20th century. And there are a range of others on various aspects of illustration, such as children's books, advertising, art deco or a certain historical period. If it's illustration then it has my interest. And I very much hope it has yours, too. <video> THE FANTASY ILLUSTRATIONS OF HERMANN VOGEL HD Description: There were two German illustrators by the name of Hermann Vogel, and they were born just two years apart. One left his homeland for France in 1879 and although definitely a person of interest, there isn't enough evidence of his work to include him in the series. The Hermann Vogel who is the subject of this video lived and worked in Germany and created a vast body of primarily monochrome fantasy illustrations based on his country's mythology and folklore. If you enjoy his work only half as much as I do you'll enjoy it a lot. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF FRANKLIN BOOTH HD Description: Franklin Booth is another illustrator who has featured - but only briefly - in the unsung heroes series. But as with those others not only do I believe he's well worth closer inspection, but I've also managed to access more visual evidence than seemed to be available a few years ago. Or maybe I just got better at finding it. Either way I hope you'll appreciate his highly distinctive talents. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF HARRY ROUNTREE HD Description: Despite the fact that I discovered a larger than usual volume of usable examples of the work of Harry Rountree there are unfortunately a large number of omissions. Although quite a few of the magazines and books he illustrated are recorded many of them yield no visual evidence whatsoever. So there doesn't seem to be a lot of point in discussing them. Nevertheless the visual evidence I did find should be more than enough to keep the average illustration enthusiast interested and hopefully amused. P.S. I'm off to Spain once this is uploaded and won't be able to reply to comments until I return, but I hope you'll comment anyway. </video> <video> THE FANTASY ART AND CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF LOUIS MOE HD Description: There were two distinct paths followed in Louis Moe's career. He had an exceptional talent for illustrating and writing charming fantasy stories for children and an equal prowess as a dark fantasy image maker of an entirely different kind. And although I usually focus considerably more on illustration rather than on art I'm so in awe of Moe's talent as a printmaker that I'm more than happy to break with my usual practice, simply to be able to show you such fascinating graphic art alongside his overtly commercial children's work. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF ARMAND VALLÉE HD Description: French illustrator Armand Vallée is very well represented when it comes to decent resolution images. Unfortunately that's not the case when it comes to biographical detail. There are a few grudging lines of biography on French Wikipedia and some passing references to him in a couple of other places, but that's about it. And it certainly doesn't help that there were two others of the same name - a priest who was active in the French resistance in World War 2, and a Canadian artist, born in 1921. So I hope you'll forgive me if this is even lighter on biography than usual, and that the images and timeline of his career make up for its absence. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF JULIUS DIEZ HD Description: Julius Diez is one of only a handful of illustrators who worked for the German magazine Jugend about whom I could find enough to make a solo video. Biographical information, as usual, is pretty thin but there's a decent amount of imagery to discuss and I think he makes a pretty interesting subject for closer examination. As always I hope that's an opinion you share. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATED POSTERS OF LEOPOLDO METLICOVITZ HD Description: A few months ago I uploaded a video about the Italian poster artist Marcello Dudovich, in which I made mention of Leopoldo Metlicovitz, who had employed him at the Ricordi studio in Milan. And now it's his turn for closer inspection. Not only was Metlicovitz a major influence on Dudovich's style, he was one of the first to create the Italian form of Art Nouveau and a major figure in the evolution of poster art in Europe. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF RENÉ VINCENT HD Description: I'm unable to tell you much about the life of French illustrator René Vincent. The pitiful sum total of biography I obtained is taken from Wikipedia and its French counterpart, which I was shocked to discover had even less information. But the dates of publication of books, magazines and posters quoted are verified. So consider this a timeline of his career, and as such it is simply an excuse for me to show you some of the most effervescent imagery of the 20th century by a man who is almost totally and unjustifiably unknown. Shame on the French, I say - in this instance at least. P.S.I've just been chastised by a viewer for stating that Bordeaux is on the coast. Apparently it's some 30km inland. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF ARNE UNGERMANN HD Description: In the case of illustrator Arne Ungermann I find myself yet again with a decent amount of images but hardly any biographical information. Danish Wikipedia boasts just 100 words and the rest I've concocted from other odds and ends I stumbled on. Sometimes I wonder if some countries don't actually want the rest of us to know about the illustrative talents they have produced. And I apologise to any Danish viewers for my undoubtedly appalling pronunciation and translation of Danish names and words. But the normally reasonably reliable google translate/pronounce facility simply couldn't cope with many of the words I tried, so I just gave up on the idea altogether. Please don't bother to correct me - once the videos are uploaded there's no option to edit. </video> <video> THE COMIC ART AND CARTOONS OF JACK COLE HD Description: Among comic book enthusiasts, and particularly those in the USA, Jack Cole is fairly well known. His main claim to fame was that he created the character Plastic Man, arguably the oddest of all superheroes. But outside that community he struggles to be recognised, even though a considerable amount of his work wasn't actually for comic books. His career was fairly short and his story ended more unhappily than most. But however brief his career his diverse output more than deserves to reach a wider audience. </video> <video> THE CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF WILLIAM WALLACE DENSLOW HD Description: So, the first upload of 2025, and I imagine that William Wallace Denslow is pretty well known in the USA as the visual originator of The Wizard of Oz, a book that subsequently spawned a virtual industry. Elsewhere he is far less well known and certainly here in Britain very few would recognise his name. In addition to the peculiarities of his graphic technique, undoubted accomplishments and considerable impact on children's books in the 20th century Denslow's story is also a salutary account of how not to squander success. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF DONALD BRUN HD Description: A few months back I uploaded a video about Swiss poster designer Herbert Leupin. This video is about another major Swiss graphic talent Donald Brun, who was born some seven years earlier and was undoubtedly a significant influence on Leupin's work. What little biographical information I could find came almost exclusively primarily from the Swiss Graphic Design Foundation, which I'm grateful for, but they weren't exactly expansive about his life and career, so please don't expect much detail. As with others I hope the pictures make up for the shortfall in information. </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANTONIO RUBINO HD Description: Antonio Rubino was undoubtedly somewhat of a modern Renaissance man. In addition to his career in illustration he worked at various times as an animation director, screenwriter, playwright, author, poet and musical composer. But as you would expect from this channel it's his work in illustration which is the focus of the video. And it isn't just that he was undoubtedly an illustrator of immense talent but that he was one of the earliest to apply the principles of geometry and simple flat coloured shapes in his work for children. 'Significant' doesn't even begin to describe his contribution. </video> <video> ARTHUR FERRIER HD 1080p Description: Some years back I featured Arthur Ferrier in the Unsung Heroes series, and at that time I could only scrape together just enough biography and visual material to enable me to include him. But as luck would have it I was recently contacted by Korero Press, who are about to publish no less than three volumes of Ferrier's work, by author and researcher Rian Hughes. They generously offered me access to the content and this solo feature is the result. If you want to know more about these books and when they will be published just click on the link below. See you in 2025, I hope. https://www.koreropress.com/arthur-ferriers-pin-up-parade/ </video> <video> THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF JOAN KIDDELL MONROE HD Description: Firstly I'd like to take this opportunity to express my eternal gratitude to those who helped me get to 100,000 subscriptions, a figure I could never have imagined when I started the channel. So, hopefully it's onwards and upwards and thanks a lot to all of you, especially those who have been with me for the long haul. Once more find myself with quite a large amount of decent resolution images by the unjustly forgotten British illustrator Joan Kiddell Monroe, with just a few miserable lines of biography to work with. But as always I hope her fascinating and graphically considered images distract you from the lack of narrative substance. </video>

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I had always thought that many illustrators from the past got nothing like the attention they deserved so I decided to make some videos about a few of these almost forgotten talents.

The unsung heroes series was originally intended to be about illustrators from what's known as the golden age of illustration. But I soon realised that meant ignoring many early 20th century illustrators who strictly speaking didn't fit that description.

So I compromised and ended up with parameters of those born between 1850 and 1910.

There are also videos about individual illustrators who are personal favourites of mine, mostly but not exclusively from the early 20th century.

And there are a range of others on various aspects of illustration, such as children's books, advertising, art deco or a certain historical period. If it's illustration then it has my interest. And I very much hope it has yours, too.

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