V. E. Pyles

My great uncle on my mother’s side was an artist. He has been the subject of many conversations off and on with my mother, sometimes with her brother (my only uncle) and now with my cousins. I’m not often in contact with them as I never really knew them when I was younger. Living overseas separated us and they were a lot younger. Our common interest in family history though, keeps bringing us together, at least by e-mail. We are particularly intrigued with our great-uncle Virgil. None of us knew him of course. However, he was still living when I was born and there is a record of a gift in my baby book. He died in 1963, and I had ample opportunity to meet him when I was younger. I don’t know why our paths never crossed. He was living in New York and surely a trip could have been made.

I have some of his paintings and have just acquired a magazine with a cover illustrated by him(the above is not that particular one). He was an illustrator, mostly illustrating pulp fiction. I’ve just learned that he studied at the Art Students League in New York and also at the Art Institute in Chicago. Somewhere, I have an old photo album with pictures he took. I think it’s high time I took them out.

Tags: Artists, family, Pyles