Robert Fawcett illustrator, Sherlock Holmes artworks

The figure of Sherlock Holmes made famous not only his fantastic creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but artists who immortalized him on illustrations. Such artist was his first creator, Sidney Paget, to whom we dedicated a separate article, or Robert Fawcett, who was called „the illustrator of illustrators” for his wonderful pictures.

Fawcett (1903-1967) was born in England and grew up in Canada and in New York. His father was an amateur artist, who supported his son’s interest in arts. When Robert was a young boy, his father, an amateur artist, encouraged him to work by giving a penny for each drawing he made. The son, who later became the king of illustrators, got to like to work at an early age, and he was tireless in it, just like the king of detectives, Sherlock Holmes.

Robert studied in the world famous Slade School of Fine Art in London, then he returned to the USA. He worked for a marketing agency and illustrated magazines.

His astonishing illustrations were appreciated so much by his fellow artists that he was called „the illustrator of illustrators”. He also had been awarded as the illustrator of the year. Fawcett never let trends to affect the quality of his work, he had his own legendary style. David Apatoff has a great book on the artist. Its introduction is written by Fawcett's personal friend, Walt Reed.

Fawcett's most famous works are the Sherlock Holmes illustrations he made for Collier’s Magazine. The stories were written by Adrian Conan Doyle (the nephew of Sir Arthur) and John Dickson Carr. Below you can see some of his drawings:

THE ILLUSTRATOR OF ILLUSTRATORS

Sherlock Holmes artworks of Robert Fawcett