{{Short description|American illustrator and painter (1913–2012)}}
'''James Gordon Irving''' (June 2, 1913 – August 15, 2012) was a commercial illustrator and painter, best known for illustrating the early [[Golden Guide]] series of nature books.
==Life and career== Irving, who went by the name Gordon, was born in [[Ridgefield Park, New Jersey]].<ref name=":0" /> Interested in natural-history illustration from an early age, he took art classes at the [[Dean College|Dean Academy]] in Franklin, Massachusetts, and from the age of 17 at the [[Grand Central School of Art]] and the [[National Academy Museum and School|National Academy of Design]] in New York City.<ref name=":0" /> He served in the US Navy at a naval base in San Francisco during World War II,<ref name=":1" /> where he met his wife-to-be, Grace Crowe, moving back to New Jersey in 1947 to raise a family.<ref name=":0" />
Irving worked as a commercial artist for many years, but is best known as the illustrator of the [[Golden Guide]]s, pocket-size introductions to natural history for children; he illustrated the first, ''Birds'' (1949) by [[Herbert Zim]] & Ira Gabrielson, and eight more during the first years of the series: ''Insects'' (1951), ''Stars'' (1951), ''Trees'' (1952), ''Reptiles and Amphibians'' (1952), ''Fishes'' (1955), ''Mammals'' (1955), ''Zoology'' (1958), and ''Gamebirds'' (1961).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url = http://uppercasemagazine.com/issue15|title = The Golden Nature of James Gordon Irving|last = Fandrich|first = Leslie|date = Fall 2012|journal = Uppercase|issue = 15|pages = 46–50|access-date = 2016-01-04|archive-date = 2019-08-21|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190821070352/https://www.uppercasemagazine.com/issue15|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Golden Guide Checklist|url = http://www.vintagepbks.com/gg-list.html|website = www.vintagepbks.com|access-date = 4 January 2016}}</ref> When the series was relaunched in 2001, several of the books continued to feature Irving's paintings.
A resident of [[Haworth, New Jersey]], Irving died aged 99 on August 15, 2012, survived by his two sons.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title = James Irving Obituary|url = http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/northjersey/obituary.aspx?pid=159348614|newspaper = The Record|date = 22 August 2012|access-date = 4 January 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, James Gordon}} [[Category:1913 births]] [[Category:2012 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American illustrators]] [[Category:People from Haworth, New Jersey]] [[Category:People from Ridgefield Park, New Jersey]] [[Category:20th-century American male artists]] [[Category:Artists from Bergen County, New Jersey]] [[Category:American botanical illustrators]] [[Category:American natural history illustrators]] [[Category:American bird artists]] [[Category:20th-century American painters]] [[Category:American male painters]]