View source for E. W. Kemble

{{Short description|American illustrator}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Edward Winsor Kemble
| image         = Edward kemble portrait.jpg
| caption       = Kemble c. 1910
| birth_date    = January 18, 1861
| birth_place   = [[Sacramento, California]], U.S.
| death_date    = September 19, 1933 (aged 72)
| death_place   = [[Ridgefield, Connecticut]], U.S.
| occupation    = Illustrator, cartoonist
| notable_works = Illustrated first edition of ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''
| known_for     = Caricatures of [[African American]]s
| spouse        = 
| children      = 
| website       = 
}}
[[File:E. W. Kemble - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Cover.jpg|thumb|right|160px| ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', illus. by Kemble (1st US ed., 1885)]]

'''Edward Winsor Kemble''' (January 18, 1861 – September 19, 1933), usually cited as '''E. W. Kemble''', and sometimes referred to incorrectly as '''Edward Windsor Kemble''', was an American illustrator. He is known best for illustrating the first edition of ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' and for his caricatures<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Martin, Jr.|first=Francis|date=Jul 21, 2007|title=To Ignore Is to Deny: E. W. Kemble's Racial Caricature as Popular Art|journal=[[The Journal of Popular Culture]]|volume=40|issue=4|pages=655–682|doi=10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00429.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Bracewell |first=Joy Claire |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/823496813 |title=Transatlantic technologies of nationalism in the nineteenth century: exhibiting slavery in Hiram Powers's Greek slave, Uncle Tom's cabin, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and King Leopold's soliloquy |date=2012 |publisher=[[University of Georgia]] |oclc=823496813 |degree=Ph.D.}}</ref> of [[African American]]s.

== Biography ==

Kemble was born in [[Sacramento, California]]. In 1875, he was enrolled at a boarding school in Philadelphia, which was a center of artistic activity. His artistic talent was such that he was a successful contributor to periodicals by 1881. He became the major political cartoonist for the New York ''[[Daily Graphic]]'' while receiving his only formal artistic training at the [[Art Students League of New York]].

When [[Life (magazine)|''Life'']] magazine was founded in 1883, Kemble became a frequent contributor to its early issues. He was a staff political cartoonist for ''[[Collier's]]'' from 1903 to 1907, for ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' from 1907 to 1912 before returning to Collier's, and for ''[[Leslie's Weekly]]'' and ''[[Judge (magazine)|Judge]]'' in the late 1910s.

His cartoons attracted the attention of [[Mark Twain]], who employed Kemble to illustrate ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''. Kemble subsequently illustrated several other famous books, including Twain's ''[[Pudd'nhead Wilson|Puddin' Head Wilson]]'', [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]'s ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', [[Washington Irving]]'s ''Knickerbocker History of New York'', and many of [[Joel Chandler Harris]]' ''[[Uncle Remus]]'' stories.

Kemble made a specialty of illustrating Black characters, and his work ranged from overtly racist caricatures to more human sociological studies depending upon his audience.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sonstegard |first=Adam |date=2009-03-01 |title=Artistic Liberty and Slave Imagery: "Mark Twain's Illustrator," E. W. Kemble, Turns to Harriet Beecher Stowe |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article/63/4/499/67092/Artistic-Liberty-and-Slave-Imagery-Mark-Twain-s |journal=Nineteenth-Century Literature |language=en |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=500 |doi=10.1525/ncl.2009.63.4.499 |issn=0891-9356}}</ref>

Kemble illustrated three books authored by [[Eldred Kurtz Means]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obERAAAAYAAJ|title=E.K. Means ...|first=Eldred Kurtz|last=Means|date=May 5, 1918|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8693867|title=More E.K. Means ...|date=May 5, 1919|publisher=[[G.P. Putnam's Sons]]|oclc=8693867|via=Open WorldCat}}</ref>

Kemble lived in the [[Rochelle Park (New Rochelle)|Rochelle Park]] area of suburban [[New Rochelle, New York|New Rochelle]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qGo8yAt6W08C&pg=PA186&vq=rochelle+heights&dq=Westchester,+The+American+Suburb,+Roger+Panetta&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0#PPA186,M1 ''Westchester, The American Suburb'', Roger Panetta (2006); page 186]</ref>

He died in [[Ridgefield, Connecticut]], in 1933, aged 72.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==

*[[Maurice Horn|Horn, Maurice]], ed. ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons''. 2d ed. Philadelphia: [[Chelsea House Publishers]], 1999.
*Reed, Walt. The Illustrator in America, 1860–2000. New York: The Society of Illustrators, 2001.
*Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels. Samuels' Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. Secaucus, N.J.: Castle, 1985.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Edward Winsor Kemble}}
{{Wikisource}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=37155}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=E. W. Kemble}}
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/k/kemble_ew.htm Comic Creator: E. W. Kemble] via lambiek.net
* Kemble, E.W. (February 1930). [http://etext.virginia.edu/twain/colophon.html Illustrating Huckleberry Finn.] ''[[The Colophon, A Book Collectors' Quarterly]]'' (via University of Virginia)
* [http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/huckpix/huckpix.html Kemble's Illustrations for ''Huck Finn''] (via University of Virginia)
* {{LCAuth|n83187145|E. W. Kemble|89|}} (mainly as "E. W. Kemble")
*[https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], [[Emory University]]: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zht2 Letters to Ellis D. Robb, 1931]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemble, E.W.}}
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1933 deaths]]
[[Category:American cartoonists]]
[[Category:Artists from New Rochelle, New York]]
[[Category:Artists from Sacramento, California]]
[[Category:Art Students League of New York alumni]]


{{US-cartoonist-stub}}