author
J. Thompson Willing
An illustrator and magazine art director as well as a writer, he moved easily between visual art and literary work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His background in design and publishing gives his books a polished, old-world charm.
1 Audiobook
The Mentor: Makers of American Art, Vol. 1, Num. 45, Serial No. 45
by J. Thompson Willing
About the author
Born in Toronto in 1860, J. Thompson Willing—also listed in some sources as J. Thomson Willing—trained at the Ontario School of Art and built a career as both an artist and an author. He later worked in New York, where he was elected to the Salmagundi Club and became known in illustration and publishing circles.
Willing served as art director of Metropolitan Magazine and was also art manager of Associated Sunday Magazines. Sources on his career describe him as especially noted for bookplate design, which fits the strong visual sensibility that carries into his writing.
He also wrote books of his own, including work preserved by Project Gutenberg, and Wikipedia describes him as having contributed propaganda posters during World War I. He died in 1947, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both the literary and visual culture of his era.