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A Painter of A Young Star is Born

The Christy family has strong Irish roots. F. Earl’s grandfather
William Christy came to the U.S. in the early 1800s and started a
Beauty inherited the business in 1864.
bookbinding business. Of his nine children, the oldest son, William,

Meanwhile, on the Maguire side, grandmother Regina came to
the U.S. in 1834 to escape the potato famine. She ran a successful
butter and egg stall in Philadelphia, saved $5,000, and bought a
house. Her husband joined her from Ireland and they had four
children, the second youngest being Regina Aloysius Victoria
Maguire. At 16, she married a classmate named James Tyndall, who
passed away at 25 from a leech being placed on this neck by a doctor
who was trying to cure his sore throat.
In 1876, William Bennett Christy and Regina Aloysius Victoria
Maguire Tyndall married. They had four children, and F. Earl’s 1882
birth certificate read “Earle Christy.” The “F.” was not seen as part of
his name until it was seen on a 1904 print bearing his full name.
William Christy continued in the bookbinding business and
became F. Earl’s manager when the burgeoning artist started working
as a teenager. His wife Regina eventually opened a store dealing in
Oriental imports.

Below are examples of just a few of the many College themed postcards created for
the Boardwalk Atlantic City Picture Company that were produced by J. Hoover
and Sons of Philadelphia starting in 1900. Christy’s collegiate illustrations were
also produced on ceramic pieces such as dishes and steins.

He was 16 when F. Earl (hereafter “Christy”) left school to pursue
his career in art. His first “real” job was “inventing golf plaids,”
according to a letter written by his sister Rene, for a printing compa-
ny in Atlanta, Georgia. At 17, he was working creating original art-
work for the Boardwalk Atlantic City Picture Company along the
Atlantic City Boardwalk. At that time, the Boardwalk was the place
to vacation, renew one’s health, or to see and be seen. Christy did not
have to go too far to observe the creme-de-la-creme when he needed
to use beautiful young people in his work.
by Judy Gonyeau, Managing Editor According to collectableivy.wordpress.com, “Christy practically
invented the illustrated image of the ‘All-American Girl,’ at least for
hen it comes to beautiful people, women, in particular, time the Ivy-League set. His early works glorified the society college girl –
and again F. Earl Christy was the painter businesses, magazines, always beautifully dressed at football games, golf, and tennis tourna-
Wand printers would turn to for images that drew the eye closer ments, riding in automobiles or playing instruments.” Christy is
to whatever they were selling. His “signature” signature shape marked known to have enjoyed working on sports illustrations, and did a num-
thousands of paintings that included hundreds of famous stars and many ber of paintings of girls holding their trophies and living the sporting
that turned out to be his two favorite models – his sisters Mabel and life of the elite that included yachting, golf, tennis, croquet, etc.
Rene. If you research any of his images, you will find a generic biography Starting in 1905, Christy attended night school at the
that goes something like this one found on a Pinterest post: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and studied there for two years.
“F. Earl Christy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1882. The He also continued earning a living
“F” is believed to stand for “Frederic.” At 17, he painted originals for the as a commercial artist. But once he
Boardwalk Atlantic City Picture company, with many of his early works left the Academy in 1909, the
published by the J. Hoover and Sons Calendar Company of Philadelphia. amount of work started climbing.
He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts from 1905-1907. Earl
Christy never married and lived most of his life with one or both of his sis- A pair of football mugs, representing
ters. He passed away on Long Island New York in 1961.” Harvard and Princeton, sold for $300 at
But there is more to his story than one paragraph. Morphy Auctions in 2018

28 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles