Society of Illustrators

American professional society

The Society of Illustrators (SoI) is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in 2012, the Society has also promoted the art of comics. In addition to its holding exhibitions in its own Museum of American Illustration, the Society holds the annual MoCCA Festival, an independent comics showcase.

The Society of Illustrators was founded on February 1, 1901, by a group of nine artists and one advising businessman. The advising businessman was Henry S. Fleming, a coal dealer who offered his legal staff to the Society in an advisory role and also served as the Society of Illustrators Secretary and Treasurer for many years. The nine artists who, with Fleming, founded the Society were Otto Henry Bacher, Frank Vincent DuMond, Henry Hutt, Albert Wenzell, Albert Sterner, Benjamin West Clinedinst, F. C. Yohn, Louis Loeb, and Reginald Birch. The mission statement was "to promote generally the art of illustration and to hold exhibitions from time to time". Women first became part of the organization in 1903, when Elizabeth Shippen Green and Florence Scovel Shinn were named Associate Members; but women were prohibited from full membership until 1922.

During the World War I years, with Charles Dana Gibson as the acting president, Society members worked through the Committee on Public Information's Division of Pictorial Publicity, creating many original poster designs, including James M. Flagg's US Army iconic recruiting poster of Uncle Sam, and eight Society members, commissioned Captains in the Engineers, were sent to France to sketch the war.

In 1920, the society was incorporated, and in 1922 women were allowed to become full members.

During World War II, the society again contributed to the war effort with a massive campaign of posters. Society members visited veterans’ hospitals to sketch the wounded, and an ensemble by the same name plays at Society events up until the present.

In 1946, a Welfare Fund for indigent artists was established. In 1948, the Joint Ethics Committee, of which The Society is a member developed the first Code of Fair Practice, which still serves today in addressing concerns of artists and art directors working in the graphic communications field where abuses and misunderstandings regarding usage rights and ownership of works of illustration and other works of art created for a wide range of public media. In 1954, the U. S. Air Force began sending Society of Illustrators members around the world to document the Air Force's activities. This program continues today. Thousands of paintings have been contributed over the years. In 1959, the society hold its first Annual Exhibition, juried by Bob Peak, Bradbury Thompson, Stevan Dohanos, and others. It opened with 350 original works of art and led to the publication of the first Illustrators Annual. The Society opened its doors to the public in 1981, establishing the Museum of American Illustration, with regular public exhibitions. That year was punctuated with the 9/11 Memorial Exhibition, Prevailing Human Spirit. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) endowed its assets in August 2012 to the society, which has since subsidized the MoCCA Festival. Arabelle Liepold took the position in June 2023. The Society of Illustrators maintains an annual of illustration, student scholarship competition,s and various awards honoring excellence in the field of illustration. and with the New York City Board of Education since 1999.

The Society of Illustrators inaugurated the Hall of Fame program in 1958, to recognize "distinguished achievement in the art of illustration". The first recipient was Norman Rockwell. and the Arthur William Brown Achievement Award, which may be awarded annually. In 1965, The Society established the Hamilton King Award, which is given annually to one society member. In 1981, The Society established the Student Scholarship Competition, which has continued annually to the present. The Highest Award presented to a student by the society is the Zankel Scholarship Award, established in 2006 in honor of Arthur Zankel, an advocate for higher education whose bequest made the scholarship possible.