Lithograph on wove paper, no date.
Edition unknown, but if there was any, it certainly was small.
The format suggests it could have been intended for a book illustration. Wilson was a prolific illustrator. We have however not identified such a possible publication.
Signed in pencil.
Image size: 8 1/2 x 5 3/8 inches.
Born in Glasgow, Edward Arthur Wilson came to the United States as a boy and attended the Chicago Art Institute as a young man. Later, he studied with painter Howard Pyle by simply knocking on his studio door one early morning and introducing himself.
His rigorous drawing prowess made him an accomplished printmaker of the first rank. In a 1940s memoir, Wilson wrote of his delight at the chance to become a full-time illustrator. His first full-length book project - a popular 1924 edition of Iron Men and Wooden Ships, gave him this opportunity, and after its success, he was always an illustrator in great demand. During the WPA era, his prints honored the efforts of industrial workers, casting them in an idealized and heroic light. He also produced illustrations for magazines and several propaganda posters during WWII.
Over his 50 year career, he illustrated 77 books, including Robinson Crusoe (1930), The Man Without a Country (1936), Treasure Island (1941), and Jane Eyre (1944). He passed in 1970, in Ardsley, New York, at the age of 84.
