Leslie Thrasher, Illustrator, Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3097
Correspondence, sketches, illustrations and papers of a magazine illustrator, Leslie Thrasher (1889-1936) originally from Piedmont, WV (on microfilm). Best known for the humor in his illustrations, his career started in 1912 after he had finished attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Ecole de Grande Chaumiere in Paris. During World War I he was part of the camouflage regiment of the 40th. Engineers, U. S. Army, serving in France where he was wounded by poison gas at the battle of Belleau Wood. At the height of his career in the 1920s and 1930s he did many magazine covers for the Saturday Evening Post and Liberty Magazine as well as advertisements for Fisk Tire and Cream of Wheat among others. Thrasher is often compared as an artist to his rival and friend Norman Rockwell and more than likely would have been as famous as Rockwell if he had not died in 1936 as a result of an accidental fire at his home on Long Island, NY. He is also noted for often using his hometown scenes, relatives and friends as models for his illustrations. Most of the correspondence is that of his daughter, the donor, and involves exhibits and sales of his art.
Addendum of 2021-04-16 includes one complete copy of "The Saturday Evening Post" of 3 October 1936 featuring a cover with artwork by Leslie Thrasher (in flat storage box).
English
No special access restriction applies.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
0 Linear Feet (Summary: 2 reels of microfilm)
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository