Master of the Pageant - by Dr Gregory L. Conn

The breadth and significance of the artistic accomplishments of Federal Louis Moritz Pape is generally not well recognised today by those who appreciate the illustrator’s art. Better known by the nickname Eric that he embraced (given to him by his family to differentiate him from his identically named father), he was a versatile American artist, teacher, book, newspaper, and magazine illustrator, and theatrical designer at the beginning half to he last century. A precociously talented youth, Pape built early critical success at the all-important Paris Salons of the 1890’s into an artistic career underpinned as head of one of the largest and most popular American art schools of his time.