{{short description|American painter}}

thumb|Illustration by Paul Bransom from ''An Argosy of Fables'', plate facing p. 52 '''Paul Bransom''' (July 26, 1885 – July 19, 1979)<ref name=asbury/> was an American painter, cartoonist, and illustrator of animals.

==Biography== Born in Washington, D.C., as a child Bransom started sketching animals he saw in his backyard and at the National Zoo.<ref>[http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/paul-bransom-papers-8933/more "Paul Bransom papers, 1862–1985, bulk 1904–1979"] (finding aid). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (aaa.si.edu). <br>&nbsp; With biographical sketch.</ref> He began his career as a technical draftsman for the U.S. Patent Office when he was 13 years old. He relocated to New York City in 1903 and began drawing comic strips for the New York Evening Journal there. He drew the comic strip ''The Latest News from Bugville'' (1903–1912).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bransom_paul.htm|title=Paul Bransom|website=lambiek.net|accessdate=September 16, 2019}}</ref> After moving to New York, his talent as a wildlife artist was recognized while creating studies of the animals at the Bronx Zoo.<ref name="Curtis">{{cite web|url=http://www.curtispublishing.com/bios/Bransom.shtml|title=Paul Bransom (1885–1979)|work=Artists Gallery|publisher=Curtis Publishing|accessdate=14 July 2011|location=Indianapolis }}</ref> His earliest commissions were covers for the ''Saturday Evening Post''<ref name="Curtis" /> and illustrations for editions of Kipling's ''Just So Stories'' and Grahame's ''The Wind in the Willows''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Bransom%2C%20Paul%2C%201885-1979|title=Online Books by Paul Bransom |work=The Online Books Page|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|accessdate=14 July 2011}}</ref>

Bransom was awarded the Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal,<ref name="Curtis" /> and his works are included in the collection of the National Museum of American Illustration at Newport, Rhode Island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanillustration.org/artists |title=Artists |publisher=National Museum of American Illustration (americanillustration.org) |accessdate=2 September 2016}} <br>&nbsp; Formerly retrieved July 2011. Bransom's works are not among those included in the changing online display as of September 2016.</ref>

Bransom was a resident of New York City from 1906 until his death. He died on July 19, 1979, during a visit to Quakertown, Pennsylvania, several days before his 94th birthday.<ref name=asbury>[https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/22/archives/paul-bransom-illustrator-dies-called-dean-of-animal-artists.html?_r=1 "Paul Bransom, Illustrator, Dies; Called 'Dean of Animal Artists{{'"}}]. Edith Evans Asbury. ''The New York Times''. July 22, 1979. p. 34. Retrieved 2 September 2016. <br>&nbsp; "died Thursday in Quakerstown, Pa., where he had been visiting. He would have been 94 years old next week."</ref>

==Selected works== [[File:SaturdayEveningPost14Mar1925.jpg|thumb|right|''Saturday Evening Post'' cover (March 14, 1925)]] *''The Wind in the Willows'', by Kenneth Grahame (C. Scribner's Sons, 1913) *''An Argosy of Fables'', ed. Frederic Taber Cooper (Frederick A. Stokes, c1921) *''The Wild Heart'', Emma-Lindsay Squier (Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1922) *''Just So Stories'', Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Kipling and Joseph M. Gleeson (Garden City, NY: Country Life Press, c1912) – Bransom provided front cover, endpapers, and title page illustrations for a 1932 edition containing the Kipling and Gleeson interior illustrations *''The Country Gentleman'' (Curtis Publishing) cover illustration

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{portal |Visual arts }} {{commons category-inline}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=32920| name=Paul Bransom}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Paul Bransom}} * {{LCAuth|n84020802|Paul Bransom|26|}} (see previous page of browse report, 'Bransom, Paul, 1885–' without '1979') * [http://www.bedfordfineartgallery.com/paul_bransom_art.html Artwork by Paul Bransom]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bransom, Paul}} Category:1885 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Illustrators of fairy tales Category:20th-century American illustrators Category:American magazine illustrators Category:American children's book illustrators Category:Wildlife artists Category:20th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:20th-century American male artists