Frank Godwin

Frank Godwin was a leading illustrator and cartoonist. He began his career as a staff artist for the Washington Star, where his father was editor. While studying art in New York, he shared a studio with Eugene O'Neill and James Montgomery Flagg. His work as an illustrator includes an edition of Kidnapped, as well as several books by Lippincott Publishers. His illustrations appeared in magazines such as Redbook, Liberty, Judge, and The Saturday Evening Post. His well-known comic strip "Connie", created for the Public Ledger Syndicate, was widely circulated from Philadelphia. While in the Air Force in World War I, he designed and made the first air-to-ground reconnaissance camera, which is now in the Smithsonian. During World War II he did war posters for the Unites States government and full page ads for Texaco and Coca-Cola, illustrating the life of service men. After World War II he built a studio in New Hope, where he created the comic strip "Rusty Riley" about the adventures of a teenage boy, for King Features Syndicate. Rusty Riley was published in 350 papers worldwide.

Education and Training
Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
Art Students' League, New York, New York

Teachers and Influences
Harry P. Godwin, his father, and the editor of The Washington Star.
He shared studio space with James M. Flagg and Eugene O'Neill at the Art Students' League in New York.

Connection to Bucks County
Frank Godwin lived on Honey Hollow Road in New Hope from 1940 to his death in 1959. He exhibited at the Bucks County Illustrator's Show and the Lambertville House. He donated a series of etchings of local scenes to the New Hope Historical Society, and every year would donate his time to paint portraits of local residents for the annual Street Fair visitors.

Colleagues and Affiliations:
Tony Sarg, cartoonist Harry Haenigson, Dorothy Moore, and Paul Flegel were friends. Godwin's wife, Georgiana, was well-known as a needlework artist.

Major Group Exhibitions
Lambertville House, Lambertville, New Jersey, 1978

Novels and Short Stories
Illustrated the book Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Winston Publishing Company

Publications
Comic strip "Connie", Public Leader Syndicate
Comic strip "Rusty Riley", King Features Syndicate
Illustrations for Liberty, RedBook, Judge, Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's

Teaching and Professional Appointments
The Smithsonian Institution acquired the first reconnaissance camera for air-to-ground photography designed by Frank Godwin during World War I.

Affiliations and Memberships
Illustrator's Society
Salmagundi Club
Cartoonist's Society