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He had a strong work ethic. Mastering his technique was vitally important to him. In another letter he writes: “In regards to watercolor work, I would say a fellow must go away in the country or stay at home and paint watercolors constantly and nothing else.” Keller did not lack in self confidence. He wrote his father: “I expressed my composition simply, in a bold, straight forward manner. When I think of the glorious richness before me, I strive for it and many times succeed. So is the old adage, be simple and rich.”

In 1892, when Keller returned to New York, the publication of books and magazines was flourishing which led to the demand for illustrations. Though Keller was trained as a painter of oils and watercolors, his transition into illustration likely was born of financial necessity and began principally with the New York Herald in the mid 1890s.

Early illustrations appeared in Harper’s, Collier’s and The Ladies’ Home Journal and at least thirty other magazines. In books he illustrated the works of Rupert Hughes, J.P. Marquand and George Barr McCutcheon, to mention only a few. By the early 1900’s his works were already earning recognition. The series of awards he had won at the turn of the century include the prize for watercolors at the Philadelphia Art Club; silver medal, Paris Exposition; bronze and silver medals, St. Louis Exposition; and gold medal, Panama Exposition.

In a review from a 1914 exhibition at the Society of Illustrators it was stated, “Arthur I. Keller is here with five contributions so ably executed, so full of technical brilliancy, of learning in the value of accent and contrast, in the animating power of spirited brushwork, that one wonders if he might not make dancing compositions without the introduction of solid figures. He has a sense of color, that intuitive feeling for values that is essentially a painterly quality.”

Among his outstanding book commissions were A Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Virginian by Owen Wister, and many books of the writer Brett Harte. By 1912 Keller had illustrated roughly 150 books, and more than 600 issues of leading magazines had carried his illustrations.”

Cragsmoor, The Art Colony
Cragsmoor evolved into an art colony concurrent with the establishment of other Catskill Mountain villages near the end of the nineteenth century. Many of these early New York State colonies were second homes for artists who wanted to escape the heat of New York City. These country homes provided ready access to clean mountain air, garden fresh vegetables and eggs and milk straight from the farmer. Cragsmoor did not attract the struggling artist, rather it drew people who were already successful and who, for the most part, lived staid, prosperous family lives.

Arthur I. Keller was introduced to Cragsmoor by Edmund Lamson Henry. From 1902 until his death in 1924, Keller spent every summer in Cragsmoor. During his first years in Cragsmoor, Keller, his first wife Myra and their 3 children boarded at the Lakwelend Hotel located on the Sam’s Point Road near Losee’s Hill.

In a neighboring field with views of the valley between Cragsmoor and Mt. Meenagha and the more distant Catskills Mountains, Keller built his studio. In 1905, Myra and the twins she was carrying, died in childbirth. Three years later he married the energetic and beautiful Edith Livingston Mason, a summer resident of Cragsmoor, and in time he moved his studio to his new wife’s cottage (his grandchildren still live on this site). Edith and Arthur had four more children. The only living Keller child, Edith Keller Johnson, writes about her parents’ courtship, “Mother was staying at the Locusts and Daddy, widowed with 3 children, lived on the other side of the mountain. When he would come to call, not wanting to be recognized or to publicize his intentions, he would walk the distance clothed in a flowing black cape or cloak with a wide brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes. Can’t you just see him? He must have made quite a romantic picture.”

Keller always drew from live models. It would be common to see members of his family and household staff in his illustrations. He would hire people whom Mrs. Keller would call “strays” to model and live with the family, often hiring them to do other jobs such as chauffeuring, gardening, and home repairs.

The children in the neighborhood loved to play with all the Keller clan, but feared being called in to sit for Mr. Keller. So, they developed their own whistling signals and the Keller children would meet their friends around the corner or off in the woods somewhere. However, if Mr. Keller ever called out, “Boy” or “Girl,” there was simply no discussion. The child would pose for the artist. Keller would conjure up fantastic tales to create the mood and therefore the expressions he wanted to capture on the child’s face. Peggy, the young girl next door, remembered being hurled and whirled into the air because she was to have a look of fright on her face. We’ve not yet found her published illustration, but at age 75 she remembered that event with great fondness.

Mrs. Keller was a very supportive and important part of her husband’s work. She was a research aid. They both would read the book he was to illustrate, and when the decision was made as to which scene he would draw, she would continue to research the details of the costumes, furnishings and all other physical characteristics. Details had to be absolutely true to the book and the time in which it was written.

It was the lighting of the sitting room gas light, that revealed the Coolidge home to us, when the news came across the continent that the President was dead. Keller was so impressed by the drama of the event, of a new President being administered the oath by his father, a Notary, and the low light of the lamp that the artist requested permission to record the event on canvas. He visited the Coolidge Home in Vermont to sketch the detail of the room and later went to the White House. While Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs. Keller sat over tea, the new President posed for the painting, smoking what Keller believed to be a fine Cuban cigar. Mrs. Keller later remarked to an acquaintance how annoyed her husband was because the President never thought to offer a cigar to Arthur.

“To those of us who knew him there was something peculiarly heroic in the death of Arthur I. Keller on December 2. We who had so often warned him of the danger of too close application to his work did so because of our love for the man no less than because of our boundless enthusiasm for his work and what we knew to be back of it. I believe he actually lived his stories. How else could he make us feel the courage or coolness, hate or weakness of his men as they charged across the page or slumped in a corner, the peacefulness and dignity of his old ladies, the provocative beauty and charm of his young women? He knew not time of day or season of year, once he became buried in a story for illustration.

“Invariably working beyond his strength, dragging from couch to easel and back again as I have seen him, when he should have been away from all work, he continued until his death, to illuminate for our pleasure many of the most glorious tales of adventure of his time. We shall miss him and his work, always sorry that none of us could dampen, for his own good. that indomitable spirit which lives on for us in his pictures."

“Whenever, the best of American illustrators are recalled, ARTHUR IGNATIUS KELLER will be held in honor among them.”

Top Row: Ladies' Home Journal, "The Gladiolus Man," (1915); Packer's Tar Soap (1921); Ladies' Home Journal, "The Best People," (1917)
Bottom Row: Ladies' Home Journal, "His Name was Jonah," (1924); Ladies' Home Journal, "Dark Harbor," (1923) Keller - 010