Vincent Schofield Wickham
Vincent Schofield Wickham was a New York graphic illustrator, painter, sculptor, teacher, and inventor, whose career coincided with the Golden Age of American Illustration. Wickham worked as an editorial artist for the New York Times from 1924-1956. His work included sports illustrations, window displays in Times Square, and promotional posters that were displayed on newspaper trucks. In addition to his job at NYT, he also taught advertising art and layout at Textile Evening High School, on 351 West 18th Street.
Early career
In 1917, Wickham received a degree in Modeling and Sculpture from Massachusetts Normal Art School,. The same year, he apprenticed under renowned sculptor, and fellow Worcester native, Andrew O'Connor. Being the "slimmest of the students," Wickham was O'Connor's model for the Spanish War Memorial statue, , still on display in Worcester's Wheaton Square.Before his career as an editorial artist, Wickham invented orthodontal devices, including a "trimmer for bad teeth," and an "Apparatus for Trimming Ondontological Casts," for which he received a US patent.
Sculptor, graphic illustrator, poet
As a sculptor, Wickham was sought out and commissioned for projects. He struck the die for plaster casts commemorating the 160th anniversary of the American Whig Society, and the 50th anniversary of the graduation of Woodrow Wilson from Princeton University. These casts were unveiled at the Whig-Wilson Anniversary Celebration, held at Princeton by the American Whig–Cliosophic Society, on December 11, 1929. George Washington Ochs-Oakes, founder of Current History Magazine, attended the unveiling. In a letter dated December 13, 1929, Ochs-Oakes congratulates Wickham "on the enthusiasm with which your medal was received at Princeton. I was down there the other night and everybody admired it very much."Following the commemoration, Wickham sent several plaster replicas of the medallion to Whig Society members who attended Princeton during Wilson's tenure as professor, and president of the University. These recipients include: George S. Cunningham, of Mission Hospital, Dumaguete, Philippine Islands; Zeph. Chas. Felt, a real estate and loan magnate in Denver, CO; Sumner Walters, of Church of the Redeemer, St. Louis, MO; Dr. Jose Romero of Washington, DC; John L. Porter, Pittsburgh businessman, philanthropist and arts advocate; H.C. Adler, Manager of the Chattanooga Times.
In a letter dated Jan. 20, 1930, poet Rev. Seth Russell Downie, chaplain of the Pennsylvania State Fireman's Association, writes an especially prosaic letter to Wickham, about finding the "wee hangerhook" of the medallion "too much below rim to admit of use over nail or hook. But, my good sir, this merely gave me chance to use a nifty orange and black ribbonbow to neatly carry out the atmosphere of Old Nassau 'gainst the nooky spot on the homey wall of the living room." In closing, Rev. Downie praises Woodrow Wilson in heroic fashion: "At this very time, our beloved idealist will command the world's acknowledgement as one who clearly envisaged the great society of Nations among whom Justice should reign & peace prevail. In every corner of the earth — our idol will be blessed. The excoriated will be exalted. That will be glory enough for us — My dear sir — glory and good news."
1929 was a busy year for Wickham, as he was also commissioned by the American Geographical Society for a medallion commemorating aviator and Antarctic explorer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Six years later, in 1935, Wickham sent the original model of this medallion to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Inspired by words as well as images, Wickham's poem, "A Bookplate Speaks," originally published in the New York Times, anthropomorphizes steel engraving printmaking, and showcases the artist's facility with language: