Franklin Booth’s Art and Life: The Colors of Black Lines

Franklin Booth was a complex artist who appeals to us on several levels.

First was his extraordinary technique. He matched the skill of his predecessor wood engravers and line artists with a multiple array of pen strokes, employing a variety of line weights and spacing with an extraordinarily dexterous control which earned him the title of “Painter with a Pen.”


But most important was the aesthetic philosophy that guided him. In Booth’s day the standard of art was based on its classical definition as “a search for beauty.” He exemplified this search in all his pictures and found it even in subjects of conflict or tragedy, when required, for an illustrated editorial theme. Booth’s quest for beauty also led him to soaring, imaginative compositions that intrigued the public and most of all his fellow artists.

Despite the present fractured and vague definitions of “art,” Booth’s standards of subject, composition and craft are still valid and still command our admiration of his poetic point of view and impeccable draftsmanship.