William Wallace Denslow

WILLIAM WALLACE DENSLOW

American illustrator (1856-1915)

Biography:

William Wallace Denslow was born in Philadelphia in 1856. He was quite well-known for his posters and illustrations in books and newspapers and he gained a national reputation. He was strongly influenced by Oriental Art. He illustrated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with 24 tipped-in colour plates and he should have done the costumes and the scenery of the musical version, but due to some problems with Lyman Frank Baum for copyrights, he eventually stopped illustrating the Oz series. His last years were not as successful and nowadays he is mainly remember for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. After some hard times, he died in obscurity in 1915.