John Henry Hintermeister (1869-1945) Henry Hintermeister (1897-1972)
This oil on canvas painting was created by Henry (Hy) Hintermeister for a 1936 Brown and Bigelow calendar. As with many of Hintermeister's calendar illustrations, this painting was created to be used in a series with other illustrations, depicting the same boy with his dog. This young boy and his best friend are about to take a swim in a favorite swimming hole on a warm summer's day.
John Henry "Hy" Hintermeister was born in 1869 in Winterthur, Switzerland. After studying at the University of Zurich, John declined a teaching position, and instead immigrated to the United States, where he found work as a courtroom artist for a local New York newspaper. His successful courtroom works led him to change his focus to illustration and magazine cover art. He worked with several major calendar companies, including Brown and Bigelow, Gerlach Barklow, C. Moss, The Osbourne Co., Louis Dow, Kemper Thomas, and American Art Works. John, as he was referred to by family and friends, signed his art "Hy Hintermeister". John, along with his son Henry, born in 1897, worked together and created over 1050 illustrations that were reproduced as prints and as jigsaw puzzles. Both artists used identical signatures, which made it hard to differentiate between the two artist's works. Many of the Hintermeister later works depict humorous scenarios, such as children caught up in unexpected comical situations.
John Henry passed away in 1945, while his son Henry continued to paint. Henry lived until 1972.
