John Sheridan

1880-1948

John Sheridan was born in Tomah, Wisconsin in 1880. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. from 1895-1900, paying for his tuition by painting posters for sports events. He also spent a year at the Colorossi School in Paris. Sheridan next became art editor of the Washington Times, and later helped produce the first Sunday supplement in color for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Sheridan was at his best as a poster and magazine cover artist, as exemplified in his designs for The Ladies’ Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, American Magazine, Collier’s, and in the posters he made for the Federal Committee of Public information during WWI. He was also noted for his advertizing illustrations for Hart, Schaffner and Marx and the Bosch Magneto Company.

He was an active member of the Society of Illustrators, The Players club, the Dutch Treat Club, and he taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1945-48.