Howard Whitford Willard was an artist best known for his lithographs and woodcuts and his western and "ethnic" dust jackets and illustrations. Born in Illinois, he moved to California as a child and spent part of his life there, along with an extended period in New York City, where he was a prominent member of the art scene. He studied at the Art Students League of New York. In 1938, he joined the staff of the Cooper Union in design instruction as an "illustrative designer." He was married to art critic Charlotte Willard. Willard worked in both commercial publishing and fine press publishing, producing work for a range of audiences, from children to literary collectors to readers of textbooks. In 1943, the US War Department hired him to illustrate guidebooks used by American troops overseas. A year earlier he had been one of a group of American artists selected for a joint Cuban-American project to design postage stamps for Cuba that sought to raise awareness of the danger of "Fifth Columnists" in that country. In the 1940s, Willard was associated with artists of the New Masses such as Art Young and Rockwell Kent, participating with them in an effort to raise money for the periodical in 1943. Willard served as president of the Advertisers Guild in New York in 1940.
Dust jackets, illustrations and book design
Limited Editions Design for Carolyn Wells, “Lavinia Dickinson.” The Colophon: A Book Collectors’ Quarterly, Part Three. Limited to 2000 copies. Dust jacket, slipcase, and illustrations. Norman Douglas, Summer Islands. Limited to 550 copies. Illustrations. Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters. Commercial publications Maps. Mary Viola Gross, From the Creation of Man to Eternity Cover design and illustrations. Rose L. Ellerbee, Tales of California Yesterdays Cover design and illustrations. Anna Taggart Clark, The Quest of “Little Blessing” . Charles Mertz, The Great AmericanBand Wagon. Illustrations. Kathleen Norris, The Foolish Virgin Dust Jacket. Edna Ferber, Cimarron Decorations. Christopher Morley, Don’t Open Until Christmas. Illustrations. Ricardo Guiraldes, Don Segundo Sombra. Shadows on the Pampas. Trans. Harriet de Onis.. Dust jacket and illustrations for Elizabeth Morrow, Rabbit’s Nest. Line drawings. Todd Downing, Mexican Earth. Cover and illustrations. E.C. Hills and J.D.M. Ford, First Spanish Course. Cover and illustrations. Charles E. Kaney, Spoken Spanish for Students and Travelers: Revised Edition. Decorations. First Portuguese Reader. Decorations. Raymond L. Grismer, Tales from Spanish America. Illustrations. John Beatty, Memoirs of a Volunteer, 1861-1863. Illustrations. Pearl Buck, The Good Earth Dust jacket for Amaury de Riencourt, Roof of the World: Tibet, Key to Asia Illustrations. Reader’s Digest Condensed Books: Summer 1950 Selections v. 2. Illustrations. 1954 North Cape Cruise. Dust jacket for Max Wylie, Clear Channels: Television and the American People Illustrations for Donald Hough, The Cocktail Hour in Jackson Hole.
Lotte Jacobi's, New York, 1955. "Casein drawings and collages." New York Times reviewer "S.P" found the exhibition too commercial on the whole. Mills College Gallery, New York, 1958. "Sketches, paintings, and collages." Dore Ashton reviewed the exhibition, noting Willard's mix of "wry humor with a bright sense of selection especially in his collages." Gallery 303, 1960. Far Gallery, New York, 1976. "Paintings, watercolors, constructions, and collages of scenes in the United States, Mexico and China.
