Three original illustrations for Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop

No place, 1929. Three finished original illustrations by Harold Von Schmidt for the first illustrated edition of Willa Cather’s novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, first published in 1927, the tale of Catholic Archbishop Jean Marie Latour’s journeys through the American Southwest in the wake of the Mexican-American War. The three images, all created for the final chapter, which shares the novel’s title, include the frontispiece, the facing headpiece for Book 1, and the tailpiece to Book 8. The collaboration between Von Schmidt and Cather was one of the most successful between a modern illustrator and author. Von Schmidt, by then well known as an artist of the American West, was hand-picked by Cather for the project. Rather than employ the adventure scenes and rancher types that were his hallmark in the popular magazines, Von Schmidt took a different approach to Cather’s novel: “her characters were so well realized in words that it would be a mistake for me to depict them too and possibly confuse the reader whose interpretation of her words might be different from mine. So I did the pictures as decorations that would set the background for the story and help the audience get to know the old New Mexico as she knew it and as I knew it.” Though Cather initially disagreed, she was convinced by the result, and thanked Von Schmidt for his persistence. In the end, it would take him two years to complete over sixty illustrations for the work. The illustrations are masterly examples of Von Schmidt’s technique in black and white. Rather than the pen and ink used in traditional illustration, he preferred lampblack tempera and opaque white, which offered more control and provided a rich, flat black that allowed him to retouch lines or achieve desired tonal quality. His economy of line and command of light can be seen in each of these drawings inspired by the novel’s final scenes, set against the Santa Fé landscape. In the final image of both chapter and novel, the black silhouette of the Cathedral against the thick horizontal lines of dusk reflects the mood of the kneeling mourners before the Archbishop’s body at the altar of his church. While powerful on the printed page, much of the detail of Von Schmidt’s handwork was lost when these large original drawings were reduced to a mere 4 7/8 inches for publication. See Reed, Harold Von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West (Flagstaff: Northland Press, 1972). Provenance: Alfred Knopf; Jan and Larry Malis, New Canaan, purchased from the above, date unknown; Illustration House, purchased from the above in 1983; private collection, New Jersey. A compelling group of original illustrations. Lampblack tempera, opaque white gouache, and graphite on illustration board: frontispiece image measuring 16.5 x 13.5 inches; facing headpiece image measuring 10 x 25.5 inches; and tailpiece image measuring 11.5 x 17.5 inches, each on larger boards; resting or lightly mounted to backing, matted. Penciled borders and chapter placement notes in the artist’s hand in lower margins. Light toning and pinholes to margins, minor chips to a few corners.