Lew Hymers was born in Reno, Nevada, in 1892. Interested in art for his whole life, when he was 20 he moved to California and worked for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, where he worked for a time with Robert Ripley…the artist behind the Ripley’s Believe it or Not series, which was famous all over the world

In 1913 Hymers left the States for Europe. He was studying art when World War I broke out, and he returned to the United States where he worked as a commercial artist in Reno. By 1917 he was a cartoonist for the Washington Post newspaper, before returning to Reno again, but before long he was off to Los Angeles where he worked for Walt Disney.

One might think he was filled with wanderlust…or perhaps he preferred to be his own boss, as he finally ended up back in Reno working as a commercial artist once again. One thing Hymers was known for was his “clip art”…a catalog with hundreds of cartoon-style drawings that were available to be used in ads, on postcards, menus, matchbooks, or wherever a special little touch was needed. His first clip art book was published in 1933.

Styles changed and Hymer’s work was less in demand…replaced by more contemporary styles. Around the end of the 1940’s Hymer was spending most of his time at his ranch outside of Reno. Eventually he moved to Southern California, where he suffered a stroke in 1950, and passed away in 1953.

Hymer’s memory will always live on, in the artwork that he created…enjoy these examples of his work!