{{Short description|American artist (1909–1993)}} '''Elton Clay Fax''' (October 9, 1909 – May 13, 1993) was an American illustrator, cartoonist, and writer.
==Early life and education== Elton Clay Fax was born in 1909, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Mark Oakland Fax and Willie Estelle Fax. His father was a stevedore at the Baltimore Railroad Depot; his mother was a seamstress. Elton Fax graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1926, where he was classmates with Cab Calloway, who became a noted musician.
Fax first attended Claflin College, a historically black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina, but transferred north to Syracuse University in New York state. There he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1931. Soon after college he was featured in a solo art show at the offices of the ''Baltimore Afro-American'' newspaper.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/530995685/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/3 "Baltimore Painter's Work Shocks Conservative Baltimore Critics"] ''Afro-American'' (April 23, 1932): 3.</ref><ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/530958567/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/18 "Civilization Hasn't Helped Negro Art"] ''Afro-American'' (April 16, 1932): 21.</ref>
==Career== Elton Fax taught art at the Harlem Community Art Center in New York beginning in 1934. He also worked with the Works Project Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, a government financial assistance program for artists during the Great Depression. Fax was an illustrator for magazines such as ''Weird Tales'', ''Astounding Science-Fiction'', ''Complete Cowboy'', ''Real Western'', ''Story Parade'', ''Child Life'', and ''All Sports''.
In 1942 he began a newspaper comic named ''Susabelle'',<ref>Steven Loring Jones, [http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/comics/ "From 'Under Cork' to Overcoming: Black Images in the Comics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014170452/http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/comics/ |date=2014-10-14 }} Ferris State University, Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia.</ref> and later an illustrated history panel, ''They'll Never Die''; both were carried in African-American newspapers. He also created greeting card illustrations for The Links.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/226778879/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/1 "Elton Fax Designs Links Cards"], ''New York Amsterdam News'' (September 29, 1962): 13.</ref>
During the 1940s Fax worked for several comic companies as a cartoonist, including Continental Features Syndicate, a group that sold comic books throughout black communities. Some other companies he worked for as a cartoonist included Funnies Inc., Quality Comics, and Novelty Comics.
Books that Fax wrote and illustrated include ''West African Vignettes'' (1960),<ref>Elton C. Fax, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zQowAAAAIAAJ ''West African Vignettes''] (American Society of African Culture 1960).</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 "Books Noted"] ''Black World/Negro Digest'' (August 1963): 51.</ref> ''Contemporary Black Leaders'' (1970), ''Seventeen Black Artists'' (1972), ''Garvey'' (1972, a biography of Marcus Garvey),<ref>Elton C. Fax, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j3aaAAAAIAAJ ''Garvey: The Story of a Pioneer Black Nationalist''] (Dodd Mead and Company 1972).</ref> ''Through Black Eyes: Journeys of a Black Artist to East Africa and Russia'' (1974), ''Black Artists of the New Generation'' (1977), and ''Hashar'' (1980).<ref>Elton C. Fax, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yUXUAAAAMAAJ ''Hashar''] (Progress Publishers 1980).</ref>
In addition, Fax illustrated books by such children's authors as Georgene Faulkner<ref>Minnie W. Koblitz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-wI2AQAAIAAJ ''The Negro in Schoolroom Literature''] (Center for Urban Education 1969): 15.</ref> and Verna Aardema.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2995532/verna_aardema_and_elton_fax/ "Mr. Pages"] ''Corpus Christi Caller-Times'' (June 12, 1960): 22. via Newspapers.com {{open access}}</ref><ref>Roy Toothaker, "Verna Aardema: Her Wondrous Tales Fall on Willing Ears," ''Language Arts'' 56(2)(February 1979): 190-193.</ref> He also created dust jacket art for various publishers, as well as a literacy pamphlet for the Pan American Union.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2211&dat=19541002&id=lJwlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pfUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3610,1483027&hl=en "He Designs Book Covers"], ''The Afro American'' (October 2, 1954): 16.</ref> Among the books he illustrated are ''Paul Cuffee: America's First Black Captain'' (1970) by Johanna Johnston, and ''Take a Walk in Their Shoes'' (1989) by Glennette Turner.
From 1949 to 1956, Fax was a "chalk talk artist" with the ''New York Times'' Children's Book Program. As he presented stories to children's groups, he also spontaneously illustrated them.<ref>Sandra L. West, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XP48QWTmjyUC&dq=Elton%20Fax&pg=PA111 "Elton Fax"], in ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance'' (Infobase Publishing 2003): 111. {{ISBN|9781438130170}}</ref>
Fax was sponsored by the U.S. State Department for travel in Latin America in 1955, and a period as a lecturer in East Africa in 1963. After living in Mexico and traveling through Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay, Fax wrote in his article "It's Been a Beautiful but Rugged Journey" about feeling concerned after the United States Embassy asked him if he had seen any "communist activity".{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
While in East Africa, he also toured Nigeria with jazz musician Randy Weston on a trip sponsored by the American Society of African Culture (AMSAC).<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/226788437/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/154 "Made Whirlwind Trip to Africa"] ''New York Amsterdam News'' (July 27, 1963): 16.</ref> As one of fourteen AMSAC representatives at a meeting of the Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Rome in 1959, he reported on what happened at the meeting for the ''New York Age''.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/532050338/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/200 "14 from US Attend Rome Writers' Meet"] ''Afro-American'' (April 4, 1959): 15.</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2995495/elton_fax_at_rome_conference_1959/ "Elton Fax on a Long Writers' Conference"] ''New York Age'' (April 18, 1959): 4. via Newspapers.com {{open access}}</ref>
After his time in Rome, Fax toured Africa, visiting such countries as Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia. He drew from these trips for sketches published in his first book, ''West African Vignettes.''{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Fax's drawings were also used in the United States Information Agency film series ''Adventure Africa''. Fax returned to Europe for the Union of Soviet Writers meetings in 1971 and 1973 and the Bulgarian Writers' Conference in 1977.
Fax was a fellow at the MacDowell Colony in 1968. He received a Rockefeller Foundation Research Grant in 1976 to travel to Italy. Other awards included the Coretta Scott King Award from the American Library Association in 1972<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coretta Scott King Book Awards - All Recipients, 1970-Present {{!}} Coretta Scott King Roundtable |url=https://www.ala.org/cskbart/coretta-scott-king-book-awards-all-recipients-1970-present#1972 |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=www.ala.org |language=en}}</ref> and the Chancellor's Medal from Syracuse University in 1990.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3r0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 "People"] ''Jet'' (March 19, 1990): 20.</ref>
==Personal life and legacy== In 1929, Elton Fax married Grace Elizabeth Turner. They had three children together. The family lived in Mexico for several years in the 1950s<ref>Toki Johnson, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2995428/elton_and_grace_fax_in_mexico_1956/ "Mexican Holiday: Profile of an Artist, Elton Fax and Grace"] ''Pittsburgh Courier'' (September 8, 1956): 15. via Newspapers.com {{open access}}</ref> and traveled widely.<ref>Ida Peters, [https://www.proquest.com/docview/532401671/A40D25F7F4B84A82PQ/178 "Black History Feature: Elton Clay Fax"] ''Afro-American'' (February 16, 1980): 11.</ref> His second wife was Elizabeth V. Murrell, a social worker.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/05/obituaries/elizabeth-murrell-fax-a-social-worker-66.html "Elizabeth Murrell-Fax, a Social Worker"] ''New York Times'' (October 5, 1989).</ref>
Elton Fax died in 1993, age 83, in Queens, New York. He was the older brother of music scholar Mark Fax.
Sue Bailey Thurman donated some of Elton Fax's visual art to Heritage Hall at Livingstone College in 1973.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VVo5AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZikMAAAAIBAJ&pg=591%2C184884 "Bishop Walls' $75,000 Funds Livingstone Center"] ''ThAfro American'' (June 26, 1973).</ref> His papers are housed at the New York Public Library, Boston University, and Syracuse University.<ref>[http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20719 Elton C. Fax Papers], New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.</ref><ref>[https://www.loc.gov/folklife/civilrights/survey/view_collection.php?coll_id=2274 Elton C. Fax Collection], Boston University Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.</ref><ref>[http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/f/fax_e.htm Elton Fax Collection], Syracuse University Libraries.</ref>
== Selected works == * ''Through Black Eyes: Journeys of a Black Artist to East Africa and Russia (1960)'' * ''West African Vignettes (1960)'' * ''Contemporary Black Leaders'' (1970) * ''Seventeen Black Artists'' (1971) * ''Garvey: The Story of a Pioneer Black Nationalist'' (1972) * ''Black Artists of the New Generation'' (1977) * ''Elyuchin'' (1984) * ''Hashar'' (1980) * ''Soviet People as I Knew Them'' (1988)
===Illustrator only===
* ''Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist by Shirley Graham Du Bois and George Dewey Lipscomb (1944)'' * ''Almena's Dogs'' by Regina Jones Woody (1954) * ''Tales from the Story Hat'' by Verna Aardema (1960) * ''The Na of Wa'' by Verna Aardema (1960) * Opening sequence for Africa Adventure short film series (beginning 1966), produced by the US Information Agency * ''Black and Beautiful'' by Ruby Dee (1974) * ''Paul Cuffee: America's First Black Captain'' by Johanna Johnston (1970) * ''The Seven Wishes of Joanna Peabody'' by Genevieve Gray (1972) * ''Take a Walk in Their Shoes'' by Glennette Tilley Turner (1989)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010648420/ "Come, let us take counsel together"] (A 1944 poster by Elton Fax, in the NAACP Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.) * [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99471881/ "Finish the Fight! Join NAACP Now"] (A 1946 poster by Elton Fax, in the NAACP Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.) *[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010648419/ 8th annual youth conference], New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 21–24, 1946 (A 1946 poster by Elton Fax, in the NAACP Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.) *[https://artbma.org/documents/findingAids/PWAPRecords.html Public Works of Art Project, Maryland Division Records finding aid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320064605/https://artbma.org/documents/findingAids/PWAPRecords.html |date=2016-03-20 }}, Archives and Manuscripts Collections, The Baltimore Museum of Art *[http://cdm16075.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15264coll7/id/87 Women viewing gallery, Contemporary Negro Art exhibition, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1939]. Exhibitions Photograph Collection, Archives and Manuscripts Collection, The Baltimore Museum of Art
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fax, Elton}} Category:1909 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Works Progress Administration workers Category:20th-century African-American artists Category:African-American illustrators Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:American comics writers Category:African-American comics writers Category:African-American comics artists Category:American science fiction artists Category:American horror artists Category:20th-century American illustrators Category:20th-century American male artists Category:American children's book illustrators Category:Artists from Baltimore Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:Coretta Scott King Award winners Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing