Thursday, November 17, 2011



about 30 in all-


about the artist-

Howard Handlen has been devoted to ‘line art’ since boyhood when he admired the techniques of the cartoonists who drew marvelous illustrations of nothing more than lines with pen and ink.  He especially liked the work of cartoonist Milton Caniff who drew a widely syndicated strip called Terry and the Pirates.  Handlen never drew cartoons, but he did like to draw portraits, first in pencil, and then ink; later on he took to drawing maps, emulating as much as he could, the look of classical mapmakers; still later he began to do architectural drawing and studied the work of the masters of that genre.  He was also greatly influenced by poster art.  He never had formal lessons and not until late middle age did something that was just fun to do become business. 

Howard Handlen was born and raised on Long Island, New York.  He had a classical education which had the practical effect of making him a professional writer.  For a time he lived in the West Indies and for fun he drew maps of various islands which his wife sold to shops and galleries.  He retired to Florida in the 1990s and again took up doing maps and architectural drawing, and so finally became a professional artist.  He continued to draw mostly islands, from the West Indies to the Bahamas, to Florida, and on up the east coast to Cape Cod.  Prints of his work have become widely admired.

Born on an island, Handlen presently lives on one in his old age: Jekyll Island, Georgia.

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