Biography
Garth Williams was born an only child in New York City on April 15th, 1912. That was the same day the Titanic sank. His parents were so shocked that they did not register his birth until the next day.
His parents were both full-time artists and Garth grew up thinking that everybody had jobs painting or drawing. His father watched toddler Garth draw a tree on a steam-covered window and knew he would be an artist some day.
His family settled in the farmland of Caldwell, New Jersey. Garth got to travel often as he had relatives in the United States ,United Kingdom and France.
At the age of 6, during World War I, his family moved to Canada because they thought it would be safer.
At the age of ten he was sent to England to go to school. His parents thought he would get the best education there. He stayed there through college and during this time he apprenticed at an architecture firm as he aspired to become an architect. However, architects did not have a great future at that time and he decided to become an artist. He figured since his parents had done it for a living, he could do it too. Garth went on to study painting, sculpture, theatrical design, and advertising. He won the British Prix de Rome for sculpture. He moved to Rome to sculpt because the award paid for two years of living expenses to create art in Italy.
He returned to England in 1939, right before WWII began. He joined the British Red Cross as part of the ambulance crew and collected the dead or injured that were bombed on the streets of London. He was lucky to stay alive in this job as he saw one of his co-workers die in front of him. Eventually, a bomb went off right next him, injuring his spine, and he was forced to resign. He returned to the United States following this incident.
By 1943, he was trying to get his cartoons published in The New Yorker but his style was considered “too wild and European.” He shopped his work, which was considerably varied (paintings, photos of his sculptures and architectural ideas, cartoons, caricatures, fabric designs, murals, and portraits) to Harper and Row. There he met with Ursula Nordstorm, the famous editor of Harper and Row’s children’s books and she mentioned she had a manuscript coming in soon for which he may just be perfect. This book was Stuart Little by E.B. White. Ironically, when E.B. White sent in this manuscript for Stuart Little he had attached a note that said: "Try Garth Williams!"
His parents were both full-time artists and Garth grew up thinking that everybody had jobs painting or drawing. His father watched toddler Garth draw a tree on a steam-covered window and knew he would be an artist some day.
His family settled in the farmland of Caldwell, New Jersey. Garth got to travel often as he had relatives in the United States ,United Kingdom and France.
At the age of 6, during World War I, his family moved to Canada because they thought it would be safer.
At the age of ten he was sent to England to go to school. His parents thought he would get the best education there. He stayed there through college and during this time he apprenticed at an architecture firm as he aspired to become an architect. However, architects did not have a great future at that time and he decided to become an artist. He figured since his parents had done it for a living, he could do it too. Garth went on to study painting, sculpture, theatrical design, and advertising. He won the British Prix de Rome for sculpture. He moved to Rome to sculpt because the award paid for two years of living expenses to create art in Italy.
He returned to England in 1939, right before WWII began. He joined the British Red Cross as part of the ambulance crew and collected the dead or injured that were bombed on the streets of London. He was lucky to stay alive in this job as he saw one of his co-workers die in front of him. Eventually, a bomb went off right next him, injuring his spine, and he was forced to resign. He returned to the United States following this incident.
By 1943, he was trying to get his cartoons published in The New Yorker but his style was considered “too wild and European.” He shopped his work, which was considerably varied (paintings, photos of his sculptures and architectural ideas, cartoons, caricatures, fabric designs, murals, and portraits) to Harper and Row. There he met with Ursula Nordstorm, the famous editor of Harper and Row’s children’s books and she mentioned she had a manuscript coming in soon for which he may just be perfect. This book was Stuart Little by E.B. White. Ironically, when E.B. White sent in this manuscript for Stuart Little he had attached a note that said: "Try Garth Williams!"
Williams went on to illustrate books for Margaret Wise Brown. Overall, they created eleven books together. Some of which were The Sailor Dog, Mister Dog, and The Fur Family.
Next, Nordstrom asked Williams to illustrate the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Williams decided to take a road trip before he completed the illustrations for the Little House books by meeting Laura Ingalls Wilder in person. He also visited each of the locations about which Ms. Wilder wrote. Ms. Wilder said that she and her family "live again in these illustrations."
Williams was married four times and had five daughters and one son, Fiona, Bettina, Estyn, Jessica, Dylan, and Dilys.
In the late 1950’s, Williams bought a 400 year-old castle in Mexico. He was able to use the studio there to work. Williams went on to illustrate/author over 100 books. He died of pneumonia in his home in Marfil, Guanajuato, Mexico;on May 8, 1996 at the age of 84.
OBITUARY:--Born April 16, 1912, in New York, NY; died of pneumonia, May 8, 1996, in Marfil, Guanajuato, Mexico. Illustrator and author. Williams gained prominence as the illustrator of nearly one hundred children's books, including E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Williams spent his childhood in England, where he took up sculpting and eventually founded the Luton Art School near London in 1935. During World War II, he served with the British Red Cross Civilian Defense and St. John's Ambulance Organization as an ambulance dispatcher; he was wounded during an air raid in London. After the war, he returned to the United States and took a job as artist for the New Yorker. In 1945, he hooked up with E.B. White to illustrate White's children's book, Stuart Little. From that time on,Williams illustrated many juvenile classics. Damon Runyon's In Our Time, Eva LeGallienne's Flossie and Bossie, and the Little House on the Prairieseries by Laura Ingalls Wilder are just a few of his credits. He wrote several books himself, includingThe Adventures of Benjamin Pink, The Rabbits' Wedding, The Chicken Book: A Traditional Rhyme,and Self Portrait: Garth Williams.
WORKS:
WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:SELF-ILLUSTRATED
Also author of Self-Portrait: Garth Williams, Addison-Wesley.
ILLUSTRATOR
Bibliography
HarperCollins Publishers Website http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12897/Garth_Williams/index.aspx
Language Arts, “An Interview with Garth Williams”, Vol. 53, No.7 (October 1976), pp. 806-809
Marcus, Leonard S. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom. HarperCollins, 1998.
Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Garth (Montgomery) Williams. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. P298-301.
Something about the Author. Ed. Kevin S. Hile. Garth Montgomery Williams Vol. 90. Detroit: Gale, 1997. p239.
Something about the Author. Ed. Joyce Nakamura. Garth M. Williams. Vol 7. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. P313-327.
Something about the Author. Ed. Donna Olendorf. Garth M. Williams. Vol. 66. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. p228-235.
Wheeler, Jill C. Garth Williams. Checkerboard Library: Children’s Illustrators Set I, 2004.
Next, Nordstrom asked Williams to illustrate the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Williams decided to take a road trip before he completed the illustrations for the Little House books by meeting Laura Ingalls Wilder in person. He also visited each of the locations about which Ms. Wilder wrote. Ms. Wilder said that she and her family "live again in these illustrations."
Williams was married four times and had five daughters and one son, Fiona, Bettina, Estyn, Jessica, Dylan, and Dilys.
In the late 1950’s, Williams bought a 400 year-old castle in Mexico. He was able to use the studio there to work. Williams went on to illustrate/author over 100 books. He died of pneumonia in his home in Marfil, Guanajuato, Mexico;on May 8, 1996 at the age of 84.
OBITUARY:--Born April 16, 1912, in New York, NY; died of pneumonia, May 8, 1996, in Marfil, Guanajuato, Mexico. Illustrator and author. Williams gained prominence as the illustrator of nearly one hundred children's books, including E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Williams spent his childhood in England, where he took up sculpting and eventually founded the Luton Art School near London in 1935. During World War II, he served with the British Red Cross Civilian Defense and St. John's Ambulance Organization as an ambulance dispatcher; he was wounded during an air raid in London. After the war, he returned to the United States and took a job as artist for the New Yorker. In 1945, he hooked up with E.B. White to illustrate White's children's book, Stuart Little. From that time on,Williams illustrated many juvenile classics. Damon Runyon's In Our Time, Eva LeGallienne's Flossie and Bossie, and the Little House on the Prairieseries by Laura Ingalls Wilder are just a few of his credits. He wrote several books himself, includingThe Adventures of Benjamin Pink, The Rabbits' Wedding, The Chicken Book: A Traditional Rhyme,and Self Portrait: Garth Williams.
WORKS:
WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:SELF-ILLUSTRATED
- The Chicken Book: A Traditional Rhyme, Howell, Soskin, 1946.
- The Adventures of Benjamin Pink, Harper, 1951.
- Baby Animals, Simon & Schuster, 1952.
- Baby Farm Animals, Simon & Schuster, 1953.
- The Golden Animal ABC, Simon & Schuster, 1954, new edition published asThe Big Golden Animal ABC, 1957 (published in England as My Big Animal ABC, Golden Pleasure Books, 1962).
- Baby's First Book, Simon & Schuster, 1955.
- The Rabbits' Wedding, Harper, 1958.
- Benjamin's Treasure, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.
- A Garth Williams Treasury of the Best Loved Golden Books, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2001.
Also author of Self-Portrait: Garth Williams, Addison-Wesley.
ILLUSTRATOR
- E. B. White, Stuart Little, Harper, 1945.
- Ernest Poole, The Great White Hills of New Hampshire, Doubleday, 1946.
- Damon Runyon, In Our Town, McClelland, 1946.
- Margaret Wise Brown, Little Fur Family, Harper, 1946.
- Evelyn S. Eaton, Every Month Was May, Harper, 1947.
- Brown, The Golden Sleepy Book, Simon & Schuster, 1948.
- Henry Gilbert, Robin Hood, Lippincott, 1948.
- Dorothy Kunhardt, Tiny Library, Simon & Schuster, Volume 1: A Dozen Animal Nonsense Tales, 1948, Volume 2, 1949.
- Brown, Wait Till the Moon Is Full, Harper, 1948.
- Eva LeGallienne, Flossie and Bossie, Harper, 1948.
- Jane Werner Watson, compiler, The Tall Book of Make-Believe, Harper, 1950.
- Watson, editor, Elves and Fairies (anthology), Simon & Schuster, 1951.
- White, Charlotte's Web, Harper, 1952.
- Brown, Mister Dog, the Dog Who Belonged to Himself, Simon & Schuster, 1952.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods, Harper, 1953, new edition, 1983.
- Wilder, Little House on the Prairie, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Wilder, Farmer Boy, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Wilder, The Long Winter, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Wilder, By the Shores of Silver Lake, Harper, 1953.
- Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Wilder, These Happy Golden Years, Harper, 1953, revised edition, 1983.
- Watson, Animal Friends, Simon & Schuster, 1953.
- Brown and Watson, My Bedtime Book, Golden Press, 1953, new edition, 1964.
- Brown, The Sailor Dog, Golden Press, 1953.
- Brown, The Friendly Book, Western, 1954, new edition, Golden Press, 1974.
- Miriam Norton, The Kitten Who Thought He Was a Mouse, Simon & Schuster, 1954.
- Jennie D. Lindquist, The Golden Name Day, Harper, 1955.
- Brown, Home for a Bunny, Simon & Schuster, 1956.
- Lilian Moore, My First Counting Book, Simon & Schuster, 1956, published asMy Big Golden Counting Book, 1957.
- Brown, Three Little Animals, Harper, 1956.
- Natalie Savage Carlson, The Happy Orpheline, Harper, 1957.
- Charlotte Zolotow, Over and Over, Harper, 1957.
- Zolotow, Do You Know What I'll Do?, Harper, 1958.
- Carlson, The Family under the Bridge, Harper, 1958.
- Three Bedtime Stories: The Three Little Kittens, The Three Bears, and The Three Little Pigs, Simon & Schuster, 1958.
- Carlson, A Brother for the Orphelines, Harper, 1959.
- Mary Stolz, Emmett's Pig, Harper, 1959.
- Lindquist, The Little Silver House, Harper, 1959.
- Margery Sharp, The Rescuers, Little, Brown, 1959.
- Russell Hoban, Bedtime for Frances, Harper, 1960.
- George Selden, The Cricket in Times Square, Farrar, Straus, 1960.
- Sharp, Miss Bianca, Little, Brown, 1962.
- Elizabeth H. MacPherson, A Tale of Tails, Golden Press, 1962.
- Byrd Baylor Schweitzer, Amigo, Macmillan, 1963.
- Else H. Minarik, The Little Giant Girl and the Elf Boy, Harper, 1963.
- Zolotow, The Sky Was Blue, Harper, 1963.
- Sharp, The Turret, Little, Brown, 1963.
- Jane Werner, editor, The Elves and Fairies Book, Golden Press, 1963, published as The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies, 1964.
- Anne Colver, Bread-and-Butter Indian, Holt, 1964.
- Randall Jarrell, The Gingerbread Rabbit, Macmillan, 1964.
- Brown, The Sailor Dog and Other Stories, Golden Press, 1965.
- (With Lillian Obligado) Brown, The Whispering Rabbit and Other Stories,Golden Press, 1965.
- Sharp, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, Little, Brown, 1966.
- A Horn Book Calendar in Honor of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Horn Book, 1968.
- Eugenia Garson and Herbert Hanfrecht, editors, The Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook: Favorite Songs from the "Little House" Books, Harper, 1968.
- Jan Wahl, Push Kitty, Harper, 1968.
- Selden, Tucker's Countryside, Farrar, Straus, 1969.
- Colver, Bread-and-Butter Journey, Holt, 1970.
- Wilder, The First Four Years, Harper, 1971.
- (With J. P. Miller) D. Kunhardt, Lucky Mrs. Ticklefeather and Other Funny Stories, Western, 1973.
- Selden, Harry Cat's Pet Puppy, Farrar, Straus, 1974.
- Brown, Fox Eyes, Pantheon, 1977.
- Barbara M. Walker, The Little House Cookbook: Recipes for a Pioneer Kitchen, Harper, 1979.
- Walker, The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories, Harper, 1979.
- Selden, Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride, Farrar, Straus, 1981.
- Selden, Chester Cricket's New Home, Farrar, Straus, 1983.
- Wilder, The Little House Diary, Harper, 1985.
- Selden, Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse, Farrar, Straus, 1986.
- Jack Prelutsky, Ride a Purple Pelican, Greenwillow, 1986.
- Selden, The Old Meadow, Farrar, Straus, 1987.
- (With Maurice Sendak) Jerome Griswold, The Children's Books of Randall Jarrell, University of Georgia, 1988.
- Prelutsky, Beneath a Blue Umbrella, Greenwillow, 1990.
- Mary Stolz, King Emmett the Second, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 1991.
- John Sebastian, J. B.'s Harmonica, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1993.
- E. B. White, The Annotated Charlotte's Web, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.
- Wilder, A Little House Christmas: HOliday Stories from the Little House Books, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.
- (With Deborah Maze) Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson,The World of Little House, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.
- The Little House Trivia Book, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 1996.
- Wilder, Little House Sisters: Collected Stories from the Little House Books,HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.
- E. B. White, Salutations!: Wit and Wisdom from Charlotte's Web,HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.
- (With Cathy Holly) Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson,Inside Laura's Little House, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.
- A collection of Williams's work is kept at the University of Missouri's Kerlan Collection.
Bibliography
HarperCollins Publishers Website http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12897/Garth_Williams/index.aspx
Language Arts, “An Interview with Garth Williams”, Vol. 53, No.7 (October 1976), pp. 806-809
Marcus, Leonard S. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom. HarperCollins, 1998.
Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Garth (Montgomery) Williams. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. P298-301.
Something about the Author. Ed. Kevin S. Hile. Garth Montgomery Williams Vol. 90. Detroit: Gale, 1997. p239.
Something about the Author. Ed. Joyce Nakamura. Garth M. Williams. Vol 7. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. P313-327.
Something about the Author. Ed. Donna Olendorf. Garth M. Williams. Vol. 66. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. p228-235.
Wheeler, Jill C. Garth Williams. Checkerboard Library: Children’s Illustrators Set I, 2004.