Ray Houlihan's Expressive Grittiness

In this episode of Funday Sunnies, we take a brief look at the illustration work of Raymond Houlihan (1923 – 1991).  Like many artists of his generation, Houlihan started his professional career in the fledgling comic book business, working for Funnies, Inc.  The company provided filler material to the large comic book publishing companies, so the young artist—still a teenager in the beginning—had work appearing in National Comics (later DC), Timely Comics (later Marvel), Lev Gleason and others.  Houlihan’s style at this point was heavy on the cartooning and rather generic, with a vibe similar to Al Posen’s Sunday comic strip, Sweeney & Son.  

 Axis Grinder comic book panels, courtesy of Brian Coppola's collection

Tubby an' Tack by Houlihan

Sweeney & Son by Al Posen, 1945

During WWII, Houlihan served at the front lines during the latter part of the war, maintaining a sketchbook while in service.  The drawings that Houlihan executed were much grittier than his comic book work, combining realism and expression, both in line and tone.

Upon his return to the States, Houlihan tried his hand at magazine gag cartooning, which lasted throughout the balance of the 1940s.  In the 1950s, Houlihan turned to the illustration field, slowly developing a steady base of clients, with work regularly appearing in Saga, Reader’s Digest, American Heritage, Coronet and others.  More importantly, Ray Houlihan began to find his visual voice, echoing the gutsy WWII sketchbook work published in Saga.  The following two illustrations appeared in American Heritage magazine in October 1956, accompanying an excerpt from Bruce Catton's upcoming book, "This Hallowed Ground", about the Civil War. 

In this illustration featuring Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman, Houlihan is using a textured paper, allowing him to create contour lines with a visual noise, while also playing with thick and thin approaches to the line.  The heaviness of the line weight near the portraits, as opposed to the thin contour lines at the bottom halves of the figures, allows the viewer’s eyes to travel right up to the portraits.

This second illustration, from the same American Heritage story, is much more atmospheric in its approach. While the illustration is anchored compositionally by the two soldiers in the lower right corner, the expressively lush approach with the brush in the middle ground and background is far more engaging.  Like so many great illustrators of the day, Houlihan is able to say a great deal about the many figures present without actually drawing any of the details.  Less is clearly more in this case.

 Detail from illustration above

In this later Civil War illustration, from the February 1971 issue of American Heritage, you can see how Houlihan’s contour line has lightened up a bit, but that the expressive grittiness remains.  This piece accompanied an article/journal titled, "Asa Smith Leaves the War".  Most of the piece is made up of powerful journal entries by Asa Smith, who served in the 16th Massachusetts Infantry.  He was eventually wounded in the face and was discharged, but the trials and tribulations he faced in simply seeking medical care are incredible.  Somehow, Houlihan is able to convey some of the emotion in his work, which you can see more clearly in the detail shot from the illustration.

I’m saving the best for last. This illustration, titled "Bloody Belleau", appeared in the June 1963 issue of American Heritage.  As far as I’m concerned, it is a near-perfect example of this expressive type of illustration.  There is a nervous energy in Houlihan’s line in this piece.  The line work is fast moving, as if it were captured on the spot, watching from a short distance away. The line work also has that wonderful sense of variable weight that Houlihan made look so easy.  It’s not easy, especially when trying to create all of that variation in one cohesive illustration, but Houlihan pulls it off.  When you check out the detail shot below the full image, you can see that wonderful line up close and personal.

Raymond Houlihan is not one of those illustrators from the 1950s and 1960s that comes to mind right away when thinking about the more expressive school of illustration, but there is a gutsiness and honesty in Houlihan's artwork, and when he was on, the work is something truly beautiful and powerful to behold.

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Some of the information and images for this piece were appropriated (with my thanks and appreciation) from the Today’s Inspiration blog, the Lambiek website, and Brian Coppola’s collection on the Comic Art Fans website. The rest of the artwork is from my personal collection.