The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

This One Is a Tree-Man, from "Budder Grange"

c. 1874–1928

Arthur Burdett Frost I

(American, 1851–1928)
America
pen and ink
Image: 20 x 9.4 cm (7 7/8 x 3 11/16 in.); Sheet: 25.4 x 17 cm (10 x 6 11/16 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. Madeleine Hamill in memory of Lawrence Hamill 1949.120
Location: Not on view

Description

Frank R. Stockton’s novel Rudder Grange narrates the adventures of a family living on a canal boat. This vignette of a man in a tree depicts an episode from the book when a traveling salesman mistakenly gets frightened by the family dog. The illustration itself was printed on the left side of the page, emphasizing the whimsical nature of the design, as the man looks at nothing while the tree branches behind him nudge the lines of text to the side. Such text-image interaction was uncommon in traditional wood-engraved illustrations because it needed an irregular but precisely cut woodblock to accommodate the rows of text.
  • Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
  • {{cite web|title=This One Is a Tree-Man, from "Budder Grange"|url=false|author=Arthur Burdett Frost I|year=c. 1874–1928|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.120