(1871-1947)
American
Born: Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Samuel Warner, F.R.S.A. (American, 1871-1947) noted Roycrofter, book designer, illustrator, painter and art instructor primarily known for his involvement in the early Arts & Crafts movement in America.…
Warner studied art at the Scranton School of Art and later graduated in 1891 from the art, drawing and modeling department of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. He also studied in New York and in London, England where he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.). Warner was greatly influenced by the British Arts & Crafts movement and also studied the old missals of the monasteries and the hand-painted work of Florentine illuminators of the Early Renaissance….
As the story goes, from old newspaper articles and publications, Warner arrived in East Aurora on hard luck, “on his way to nowhere.” He had only a tomato can for baggage and only intended to stop over for a day or two, but soon found himself employed as the first art director of the Roycroft shops in 1898….
Warner was instrumental in the development of the graphic arts department at the Roycroft. During this time, he worked with fellow Roycrofter William Wallace Denslow (American, 1856-1915), the famed illustrator and designer primarily known illustrating L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, who had been hired shortly before Warner’s arrival in 1896 as the Roycroft’s first professional artist. Other well-known Roycrofters that heavily influenced the book designs were master printers William Joseph “Dard” Hunter (American, 1883-1966) who joined in 1904 and Charles J. “Cy” Rosen (Swedish-American, 1870-1952 who followed in 1906.
Warner initially worked out of the first Roycroft print shop built in 1897 (now housing the lounge and bar at the Roycroft Inn) located just north of the “Hubbard House”. After the medieval-inspired Roycroft Chapel was built in 1899 to house the new printing office, Warner was given the premier second floor studio in the rounded turret of the Chapel, where he worked on designs for Roycroft books and publications. His duties as art director included: book designs, title pages, interior drop-capital letters, decorative borders, ornamental motifs & decorations, headbands, endplates & tailpieces, portrait paintings and illustrations for bookplates, zinc-plate engravings, hand-printed letterpress work, setting the typeface and color schemes. He also trained a number of artists & designers (including Elbert’s first wife Bertha) in the book and bindery departments for hand-illumination (with watercolor) of the lettering, ornamental designs, and borders, importing hand-made and watermarked paper from Holland, as well as hand-folding & hand-stitching of the papers and cover finishing. Some of the well-known Roycroft books and publications his designs were featured in included: The Philistine and The Fra monthly periodicals, the Little Journeys series, and many more.
For more information about this artist by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc., see https://www.meibohmfinearts.com/artists/details/2844