Gnagy, Jon, New Television Art Instruction Book, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1950.Drawing lessons for beginners., Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1947 Gnagy, Jon, You are an artist an easy quick method which has proved that anyone can draw.Legacy Īuthor and illustrator Richard Egielski, in the October 2011 issue of BookPage, described Gnagy as his childhood hero, writing, "I drew along with him every week." His son-in-law, Thaddeus Seymour, was president of Rollins College from 1978-90. Gnagy pioneered drawing on television in the United States from the early 1950s throughout the 1960s on his program, Learn to Draw, and his popular art kits are still available. On May 13, 1946, Jon Gnagy was the first "act" on the first television program broadcast from the new WNBT channel 4 antenna atop the Empire State Building. ĭuring the early part of World War II, Gnagy taught camouflage techniques at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Since then the grassroots blacksmith's name has become a household friend to millions of people. His was the first performer on the first show the day the updated Channel 4 antenna (replacing NBC's old channel one antenna) was completed atop the Empire State Building. Gnagy became well prepared for his role as one of the country's greatest audio-visual educators when television started beaming to the public on May 13th, 1946. When he was seventeen he accepted the position of art director with an industrial public relations organization in the Oil Capital, where he produced posters for the International Petroleum Exposition. Gaining attention each year at the State Fair as the self-taught " blacksmith" of art, his vigorous compositions of the American Scene brought him an offer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the age of eleven he began drawing and painting without instruction, winning sweepstake prizes at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson when he was 13 years old. Son of Hungarian- Swiss Mennonites, Jon early developed inventive skills common to rural craftsmen. The pioneer environment of his first seven years at the Forge and family farm reflect a strong influence in his work as an artist. Jon Gnagy, known to millions as America's television art teacher, was born at Varner's Forge, an outpost settlement near Pretty Prairie, Kansas in 1907.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.According to his 1947 instruction book, his TV program You Are an Artist "had at this writing by far the longest run of any program emanating from the NBC television studios." His biography, published in the catalogue of An Exhibition of Paintings and Litho-Drawings (Idyllwild, California, 1964), told of his early life: Thus, while Sidaway's book is valuable, Jennings's is a better purchase.Ĭopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. A broad variety of media was surveyed, from charcoal to pastels, watercolor, gouache, and oils, and exercises compared the same subject (e.g., a red-enameled coffeepot, painted in both acrylic and pastel). Jennings relied on the advice and the work of a large group of artists to help the beginner choose media, tools, and techniques. Nevertheless, Simon Jennings's Art Class: A Complete Guide to Painting (LJ 7/00) was more comprehensive. Part 1 surveys tools and materials Part 2 outlines eight basic disciplines necessary for most genres, including line, tone composition, and perspective and Part 3 comprises 32 projects in still life, landscape, and the figure. Sidaway's book does present a good starting point for beginning artists. In an effort to avoid intimidating the student, this one promises more than can logically be delivered.
Titles with words like "instant," "quick," and "easy" in them make me nervous. Currently he works in collage and mixed media and has work in private collections in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Sweden.
Ian Sidaway works as a professional artist and illustrator and is the author of many books including Watercolour, Pastel Drawing and Oil and The Acrylic Painter's Palette.