DOUGLAS GORSLINE (1913-1985) School playground. Children's book illustration for unknown publication, ca. 1940. Oil on canvas. 13 x 29 inches. Signed "Gorsline" in lower right image.
Gorsline (1913-1985) was a prolific illustrator, drawing for publications such as Coronet and Saturday Review, as well as several children's and costume reference books. He was born in Rochester, New York and attended the Yale School of Art and the Art Student's League under Frank V. DuMond and Kenneth Hayes Miller during the early 1930s. His early works were influenced by Social Realism. In 1938, he was included in the Whitney Museum's exhibition of contemporary artists and in 1939, ArtNews magazine declared him "a young artist of promise" with a favorable review of an exhibition at Arden Gallery, New York. In 1940, Gorsline, along with Reginald Marsh and Isabel Bishop, attended etching classes at the New School for Social Research taught by Stanley Hayter. Through the 1940s, he was represented by Babcock Galleries, New York. He became a member of the National Academy of Art in 1945 after winning the Obrig Prize and the Clark Prize. He had also won awards from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the Library of Congress. During his career, he became a member of the Audubon Artists and the Society of American Etchers.
