“Born in Freiberg, Germany [on July 29, 1877], Arthur Ernst Becher emigrated with his parents at the age of six to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a Midwestern city with a large German population [Sources differ on the age at which he emigrated to Milwaukee, some state Becher was 8 before they emigrated.]. He first learned to draw from emigre artists, trained in the classical European academic style” (1).
“He took early training from F.W. Heine and Robert Schade, and also painted at Jones Island, a fishing village near Milwaukee…Two years later he married Frieda Knappe from Milwaukee, and the couple settled in Ardsley, New York. In 1917, they added a 125 acre farm in Putnam County, New York” (2).
“He was one of the handful of applicants accepted in 1902 to the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art in Wilmington, Delaware. Considered to be the Father of American Illustration, Pyle fostered a dynamic, visually entertaining style of book and periodical illustration, far removed from the static, theatrical tableaux imagery of the past. Becher thrived under Pyle’s two year tutelage and soon established himself on the publishing circuit” (1).
In 1908 “Appleton's Magazine sent Becher to London to sketch some prehistoric items at the British Museum, while there he took the opportunity to study oil painting with German artist, Otto Leopold Strutzel (1855-1930).
Worked for 40 years as one of this country's leading illustrators doing work for all the great national magazines” (3).
“During the 1930s, his illustration efforts turned to books from magazines. He also painted in Arizona during 1931 and 1939.
The Delaware Art Museum has several paintings by Becher in their collection. His work was included in the 1996 exhibition N.C. Wyeth and the Brandywine School American Illustrators from the Golden Age of Illustration (1880-1960), at the American Illustrators Gallery / Judy Goffman Fine Art.
Becher was a member of the Society of Illustrators” (2).
He died on November 4, 1960 in Pookeepsie, New York.
References:
1.
Sacred Art Pilgrim Staff. Arthur Ernst Becher [internet]. [cited 2015 May 22]. Available from: http://sacredartpilgrim.com/collection/view/83
2.
Askart Staff. Arthur Becher [internet]. [cited 2015 May 22]. Available from: http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Arthur_Ernst_Becher/20759/Arthur_Ernst_Becher.aspx
3.
Museum of Wisconsin Art Staff. Arthur Ernst Becher (1877-1960) [internet]. [cited 2015 May 22]. Available from: http://wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/arthur-ernst-becher/profile-463.aspx