illustrator charles h. twelvetrees

Charles H. Twelvetrees at work.

   Any sunny day you happen to take a stroll in Central Park and chance to wander to just the right spot, you'll be apt to see what looks like a case of wholesale kidnapping.

   But if you are in the good graces of the unperturbed policeman nearby, he'll tell you it's only C. H. Twelvetrees enjoying his usual hour of frolic with the kiddies.

   Now you know where C. H. gets his inspiration for those irresistible kid postcards that have won him the deserved title of America's Champion Postcard Artist and a place in the hearts of all lovers of the little tots. 

   He'll tell you he'd rather play with the youngsters and their puppies than eat, which assertion seems to be born out by the testimony of the park policeman and more eloquently by his famous "Twelvetrees Kiddies," which appear regularly and exclusively in "Pictorial Review." Thanks to this publication, some of these pictures are here reproduced.

   Mr. Twelvetrees was born upstate, is still young (and always will be if his effervescing sense of humor prevails), has a very retiring disposition, and is the proud daddy of a fourteen-year-old boy he calls "Laddie." It's an open secret that "Laddie" passes critical judgment on his father's drawings before they ever reach you or me.

   Rather "jumpy" is the term Mr. Twelvetrees uses to describe his art career, jumping from jewelry designing to book decorations and from advertising posters to interior decorations, and finally to kiddie pictures. Now he promises to stick to youngsters, babies and puppies, and we for one are heartily in favor. Aren't you? New York Tribune, December 14, 1919

Twelvetrees loved to illustrate infants, toddlers, and young children. He often worked from preliminary drawings that he would sketch in Central Park. He did have a son, who would accompany him to the park; he referred to him as, "Laddie." Laddie's real name was Clark and he grew up to be an actor not an illustrator. Charles H. Twelvetrees had no heirs because his son, and only child, became an alcoholic and was eventually killed in a street fight. Charles H. had a father who was a carpenter by trade and as far as we know he was never an illustrator. (Only one illustrator in this family. There seems to be confusion about it on the web.)

The following illustrations were cleaned by Kathy Grimm. Twelvetrees illustrated children's stories by Seymour Eaton in 1910:

Popular child drawings by C. H. Twelvetrees:

More Links to Charles H. Twelvetrees:

• Children's Illustrator, Charles H. Twelvetrees at Pinterest
• Valentines by Charles H. Twelvetrees
• Pinboard of Twelvetrees illustrations
• Charles Henry Twelvetrees (1872-1948)
• Clark Twelvetrees died in street fight. He was the first husband to silent film star Helen Twelvetrees.