Charles Livingston Bull was an early well-known American illustrator. Born in Rochester, New York to a father who did not appreciate his son’s early interest in art, in his younger years, Bull learned the skill of taxidermy. At 16, his first job was preparing animals for mounting at the Ward’s Museum in his home town. Eventually he’d move on to continue his trade in Washington D.C., where he specialized in bird and animal anatomy – not a terrible backup plan for an aspiring wildlife artist.
For many years, Bull also lived very near to the Bronx Zoo, allowing him regular access to sketching animals from life. Over the years, he also made trips to Central and South America to study wildlife in its natural habitat, further informing his work.
After refocusing on his artwork, Bull did make himself a successful illustration career, creating works for magazines including Collier’s, The Country Gentleman, American Boy, Ladies Home Journal, and nineteen covers for the Saturday Evening Post.
Bull’s work is known for its strong sense of design, with minimal but confidently placed elements of color. Aside from the magazine covers, he was most well-known for a popular tiger illustration for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, and several series of government posters with a call to service. His expertise in animal life also led him to illustrate Jack London’s White Fang and Call of the Wild, as well as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
Bull left a legacy of some 7,000 drawings and paintings.
1874 – 1932