Beard, Frank

United States, (1842-1905)

  • Frank Beard - The Modern Circe - Transforming Humanity into Swine
  • The Modern Circe – Transforming Humanity into Swine

  • cover illustration from:
    The Ram’s Horn, vol. 13, #9. March 2, 1901.

Editor’s Note:

Compare Beard’s Circe above with “Circe and her swine,” an 1871 illustration by Briton Rivière.

About the Artist:

Frank Beard, United States (1842-1905), was illustrator, caricaturist and cartoonist. He was the principal illustrator for The Ram’s Horn, an interdenominational social gospel magazine. The Ram’s Horn was published in Chicago, Illinois during the 1890s and the early years of the twentieth century by Frederick L. Chapman & Company.

Beard had an active career as an illustrator. His cartoons appeared in Judge, and he illustrated books. In his work, Beard also used sequential art, such as in ‘Puck on the Road’ from 1889.

Beard also originated the popular “chalk talk” public lecture, standing on the platform with a roll of paper stretched on an easel before him. With a half-dozen colored crayons in his hand, he transported his audiences with him while drawing pictures illustrating the content of his lecture.

Beard drew both single panel cartoons and sequential comics, and also created illustrations for Comic Monthly, Judge and a sister publication of The Ram’s Horn, Our Day. [DES-11/14]

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