1887, Portraits of  Russian Peasants, for Harper’s Magazine

Portrait of a Russian Peasant, is from Through the Caucasus, written by Ralph Meeker and included illustrations by Frank Millet.

As competent as these drawings are, Frank Millet was every bit as good a writer as he was an illustrator. He often both wrote and illustrated his own stories for the newspapers and periodicals of the day.  This Harper’s magazine series is an example of when he illustrated articles and stories he did not write.

There were times when his illustrations appeared in stories written by others. The several illustrations and portraits in this two part Harper’s story are a case in point. Obviously, Millet had travelled to the Caucasus but whether it was in the company of this writer is not known. A search on the Internet for Ralph Meeker will only turn up links to the well-known actor of Hollywood films and the Broadway stage.

Portrait of a Russian Jew is another example of the thoughtful approach Millet took to capturing a likeness and a level of feeling for the life experience of the sitter.  The viewer comes away with a better understanding of who the person is and what their portrait represents as a part of being human.  In short we can relate to the sitter, even if we have not lived their life.

Henry James, the American-British writer, and one of the best writers the English language has ever produced was a close friend of Frank Millet and a fan.  James wrote of Frank Millet, “…he sent striking sketches from the East, as well as capital prose to the journals I have mentioned. He has always been as capable of writing a text for his own sketches as of making sketches for the text of others. He has made pictures without words and words without pictures. He has written some very clever ghost stories, and drawn and painted some very recognizable realities…”

https://giam.typepad.com/100_years_of_illustration/francis_davis_millet_18461912/page/2/

The Cornell Library online has the articles by Meeker, in two parts, that appeared in the April and the May 1887 issues of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.

TAGS from Harpers:

https://harpers.org/archive/1887/04/through-the-caucasus-part-i/