Cornwell was one of the 20th Century's masters of illustration and the new edition of this legendary book attests to that fact. A master of color, composition, and anatomy he was a narrative artist in the best sense. "Dean of Illustrators" is full of wonderful paintings covering a broad range of themes. The problem is that this *is* an exact reprint of the first edition and nearly 3/4 of Cornwell's paintings in this book are printed in black and white. It would have been a service to the readers if the publisher had spent a little time replacing b&w images with those readily available in color....

Dean Cornwell's legendary stature among American illustrators is rightfully restored by the reissue of this excellent 1978 retrospective. Cornwell, revered by his peers and his generation, had fallen into an entirely undeserved obscurity in recent years, but the work here emphatically places him in the front ranks of his profession. Looking through these pages, it's hard not to feel that the commercial artists of Cornwell's time easily surpassed the fine artists. Certainly, it's hard to imagine how someone who could draw and paint this way would be received today.

This attractive book is a thorough and comprehensive collection of color work, studies, and sketches, all with commentary and excellent reproduction.

Dean Cornwell was the instructor and an icon for a generation of American illustrators and muralists. Capturing and expresses the evolving aesthetic and social values of American culture from 1914 until his death in 1960, his work was exceptionally popular with both the general public and the art critics of his time. With both black-and-white as well as color examples of his work, Dean Cornwell: Dean Of Illustrators has long been out of print and unavailable to American art history studies. This superbly reproduced and presented Collectors Press edition is a very welcome contribution to personal and academic artbook collections and will well serve to introduce a major American talent to a whole new generation of students and aspiring artists and illustrators.