Garth Williams

Garth Williams
An undated photo of Garth Williams.
Born	April 16, 1912 New York City, U.S.
Died	May 8, 1996 (aged 84) Marfil near Guanajuato, Mexico
Education	Westminster School of Art, Royal College of Art, British School at Rome
Known for	Illustrating children's books
Notable work	Illustrations for Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little by E. B. White; Illustrations for The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden; illustrations for the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Style	Line drawing
Awards	British Prix de Rome

Garth Montgomery Williams (April 16, 1912 – May 8, 1996) was an American artist who came to prominence in the American postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of American children's literature.^[1]

In Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and in the Little House series of books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Williams['s] drawings have become inseparable from how we think of those stories. In that respect  ... Williams['s] work belongs in the same class as Sir John Tenniel's drawings for Alice in Wonderland, or Ernest Shepard's illustrations for Winnie the Pooh.^[2]

His friendly, fuzzy baby animals populated a dozen Little Golden Books.

Mel Gussow in The New York Times wrote, "He believed that books 'given, or read, to children can have a profound influence!' For that reason, he said, he used his illustrations to try to 'awaken something of importance  ... humor, responsibility, respect for others, interest in the world at large!'"^[3]