Wesley Dennis

John Wesley Dennis was born of an English father and an American mother in 1903 in Massachusets. His father had come to America with a sporting team, met his mother, married her and stayed. Wesley Dennis dropped out of school at the age of 17, and went to live with his elder brother Morgan in Boston, where he went to the New School of Design. He managed to make something of a living from his drawing, doing fashion advertising sketches.

Unlike his brother, who made his living drawing dogs, Wesley Dennis’ interest was horses. The first horse he remembered was Tony, whom he used to drive to the station to pick up his father at weekends. As an adult, he joined the Massachusetts National Guard Cavalry so he could be with horses. The Government would keep members’ horses free of expense, as long as they could be called on in an emergency, so he bought two polo ponies, and gained more experience by getting a job grooming the horses at the Camp. Lowes Dalbian Luard was a well known animal and landscape artist, who lived in Paris. Wesley Dennis asked if he could be taken on as a pupil: Luard replied that he did not take pupils, but would help, and so Dennis set off for Paris, where he was taught to draw from memory, and studied carcasses in the butchers to learn anatomy,

When he returned to America, he earned money by sketching race horses and selling the pictures to their owners. Whilst on honeymoon with his second wife, he met the Juvenile Editor for the Viking Press, May Massey, who suggested that he write and illustrate a book. Flip was the result.

Although Wesley Dennis did write and illustrate some titles of his own, he is probably best known for his work with Marguerite Henry, most of whose horse stories he illustrated. There are over 100 books illustrated by him; though it might be as many as 150.

Sources

I have plundered the Wesley Dennis website for information. It’s an excellent site, with unused illustrations, a bibliography and much more.