Ernest Knaufft

author

Ernest Knaufft

1864–1942

An American art teacher, illustrator, and editor, he wrote practical books that made drawing feel approachable for beginners and working designers alike. His best-known work, Drawing for Printers, reflects a career spent connecting fine art with everyday printing and publishing.

1 Audiobook

Drawing for Printers. A practical treatise on the art of designing and illustrating in connection with typography. Containing complete instruction, fully illustrated, concerning the art of drawing, for the beginner as well as the more advanced student.

Drawing for Printers. A practical treatise on the art of designing and illustrating in connection with typography. Containing complete instruction, fully illustrated, concerning the art of drawing, for the beginner as well as the more advanced student.

by Ernest Knaufft

About the author

Born in New Jersey in 1864, Ernest Knaufft built his career around both making art and teaching it. Reliable archival sources describe him as a student of the Art Students League who went on to teach drawing at Princeton University and industrial art at Purdue before returning to New York.

Knaufft also worked in publishing and arts education. He served as editor of The Art Student and was associated with the Chautauqua Society of Fine Arts, roles that fit his interest in bringing art instruction to a wide audience.

Today he is remembered largely for Drawing for Printers, a late nineteenth-century handbook on design and illustration in connection with typography. The book shows his practical, instructional approach: clear, useful, and aimed at helping readers learn by doing.