Wilfrid S. Bronson | |
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Born | Wilfrid Swancourt Branson October 24, 1894 Chicago, Illinois |
Died | April 23, 1985 | (aged 90)
Occupation | Children's books author |
Nationality | American |
Years active | 1910s-1980s |
Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson (October 24, 1894 - April 23, 1985) was an American natural history artist and a "prolific writer and illustrator of children's books on various aspects of animal life".
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Bronson attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Following his service in the U.S. Army during the first World War, he worked as a mural painter’s assistant in several studios in New York City. In the 1930s and 40s he painted murals for the Works Progress Administration. Bronson accompanied several scientific marine expeditions as a staff artist, resulting in the creation of numerous nature books for children. In 1930 he was part of an expedition to the Galapagos to gather sepecimens for the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. In the 1920s he participated in expeditions led by Harry Payne Bingham to study and bring specimens and illustrations of marine life to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, which holds many illustrations Bronson made on shipboard to capture the color and form of marine specimens in the era before color photography.