Paul Strayer, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Oil On Canvas

Description

Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address, with seated people (many recognizable) and a flag behind. This image is well-known in the Lincoln community. 

This painting belonged to Illinois Governor Jim Thompson. 

Paul Strayer had a life-long career as an illustrative artist. In the 1940s, he worked primarily for magazines, and also for advertising calendars. The message on the back of the painting provides clear instructions about returning this piece to Mr. Strayer. Perhaps this portrait of Lincoln graced the month of February sometime in that era. 

About Paul Strayer…

Paul Strayer (1886-1981) was primarily a self-taught artist, though he took some formal training for figure-drawing at the  Art Institute of Chicago.  His illustrations have appeared in a wide variety of magazines, books, newspapers, and even signal cards to be placed in the  windows of homes that had tin cans awaiting collection by the Chicago Women’s Volunteer Corps.  He was a staff artist at his father’s newspaper, The Chicago Times, and in 1919 began painting covers for pulp magazines, such as Adventure, Sea Stories, Triple-X, and The Frontier.

His illustrations have appeared in book publications of Houghton Mifflin, Rand McNally, and A. C. McClurg.  He illustrated Rudyard Kipling’s Tales of India in 1935.  In the 1950s Paul Strayer returned to his creative roots, and became a top illustrator for The Chicago Tribune Sunday Supplement Magazine.

Paul Strayer lived his adult life in a home in River Forest, IL, with his wife Dollie.  They had bought the house in 1928 and lived their for the duration of both their lives. 

Strayer, Paul.  Lincoln at Gettysburg.  Oil on canvas.  No place: 1929.  27-1/2″ x 37-1/2″; framed.