Pennell, Joseph

▪ American artist and writer

born July 4, 1857, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

died April 23, 1926, Brooklyn, New York City

      American etcher, lithographer, and writer who was one of the major book illustrators of his time.

      After attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennell found work etching historic landmarks and illustrating travel articles and books for American publishers. In 1884 he went to Europe and settled in London. He produced numerous books, both as an author and as an illustrator, many of them in collaboration with his wife, author Elizabeth Robins Pennell. In London his friends included many of the most notable creative figures of the day, including the writers George Bernard Shaw (Shaw, George Bernard) and Robert Louis Stevenson (Stevenson, Robert Louis) and the painters John Singer Sargent (Sargent, John Singer) and James McNeill Whistler (Whistler, James McNeill).

      During his lifetime Pennell produced more than 900 etchings and mezzotints and more than 600 lithographs on architectural and landscape subjects ranging from the Panama Canal and Yosemite National Park to the factories of England and the temples of Greece. Pennell distinguished himself not only as one of America's most talented etchers but also as a promotional genius who helped to spur the revival of printmaking and print collecting during the first two decades of the 20th century. His publications include several books on drawing and printmaking, as well as a famous biography of Whistler that he wrote with his wife in 1908. Pennell moved back to the United States during World War I.

Additional Reading

Louis A. Wuerth (compiler), Catalogue of the Etchings of Joseph Pennell (1928, reissued 1988) and Catalogue of the Lithographs of Joseph Pennell (1931, reprinted 1991); Victor Egert, Checklist of Books and Contributions to Books by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1945).

* * *