John Henry Hintermeister (1869-1945) Henry Hintermeister (1897-1972)
This painting was created by Hy Hintermeister for use on a 1938 calendar, as the third in the "Great Adventure" series of calendars for the Shaw Barton Calendar Co. This young boy is traveling with his dog on a train to visit his grandfather on the farm for the summer. As he exits the train, it appears as though he has made some new friends along the way...including the train's conductor. This painting is titled, "Everybody's Happy".
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.
