Lester Ralph

Ralph was the son of author and journalist Julian Ralph.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uC6wCwAAQBAJ&q=julian+ralph+lester+ralph&pg=PA14|title=The Letters of Rudyard Kipling: Volume 3: 1900-10|first=Thomas|last=Pinney|date=December 13, 1995|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349137398|via=Google Books}}

In 1904, Ralph married war correspondent Elsie Reasoner, who became a famous model and sculptor.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGMMAAAAYAAJ&q=%22lester+ralph%22+museum&pg=PA591|title=New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World's Progress|date=May 19, 1914|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1204584769|title=Elsie Reasoner Ralph - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951|website=sculpture.gla.ac.uk}} In 1913, she died of phlebitis in Lloyd, Florida, and was buried at the Ralph family plot in New Jersey.{{Cite web|url=https://ochf.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/elsie-reasoner-ralph-1996-inductee/|title=Elsie (Reasoner) Ralph – 1996 Inductee|publisher=Osborne County Hall of Fame|date=September 12, 2012}} On September 24, 1913, Lester married Pauline Rohl. Together they had three daughters: Pauline Ralph, born March 30, 1915, Jean Ralph, born April 19, 1917, and Eileen Ralph, born March 1, 1919.

Ralph survived typhoid but died of appendicitis at St. Luke's Hospital in New York on April 5, 1927.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXqxCwAAQBAJ&q=julian+ralph+lester+ralph&pg=PA47|title=A Kipling Chronology|first=Harold|last=Orel|date=March 26, 1990|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349100330|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.twainquotes.com/UniformEds/UniformEdsCh26.html|title=Mark Twain Uniform Editions - Ch 26 - $30,000 Bequest|website=www.twainquotes.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-lester-ralph-artist-d/133407192/ |title=Lester Ralph, Artist, Dies; Illustrated Twain's Work |newspaper=Hartford Courant |agency=AP |place=New York |page=9 |date=1927-04-06 |publication-date=1927-04-07 |access-date=2023-10-13 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Ralph painted war scenes of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and First and Second Anglo-Boer wars.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsnXDwAAQBAJ&q=lester+ralph+painting&pg=PT458|title=The Instruments of Battle: The Fighting Drummers and Buglers of the British Army from the Late 17th Century to the Present Day|first=James|last=Tanner|date=September 11, 2017|publisher=Casemate Publishers|isbn=9781612003702|via=Google Books}} His classic Girl Scout poster is part of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library collection.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/museum/digital-collection/view/oclc/914350916|title=Military Poster / Print: For a better womanhood -Girl Scouts Campaign: Oct. 25th to Nov. 1st 1919. |publisher=Pritzker Military Museum & Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703173730/http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/museum/digital-collection/view/oclc/914350916 |archive-date=July 3, 2020}} The face from the poster was also used for Girl Scout pins.{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldofscoutingmuseum.org/NewAquisitions2.html|title=Exhibitions|website=www.worldofscoutingmuseum.org}}

He and W. B. Wollen designed special menu cards for a dinner of dignitaries.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qyzk4XXu7YC&q=w.b.+wollen+lester&pg=PA136|title=An American with Lord Roberts|first=Julian|last=Ralph|date=May 17, 1901|publisher=F.A. Stokes Company|via=Google Books}} He illustrated his father's account "In the Wake of the War" from the Turkish side of the war with Greece.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnIfAQAAMAAJ&q=lester+ralph+turkey&pg=PA136-IA1|title=The Critic|first1=Jeannette Leonard|last1=Gilder|first2=Joseph Benson|last2=Gilder|date=May 17, 1898|publisher=Good Literature Publishing Company|via=Google Books}}

Ralph also covered the Anglo-Boer War.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dYvAQAAIAAJ&q=lester+ralph+boer|title=Artists & illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War|first=Ryno|last=Greenwall|date=May 17, 1992|publisher=Fernwood Press|isbn=9780958315425|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIGVZ95-B0YC&q=lester+ralph+boer&pg=PR2|title=Black & White|date=May 17, 1900|publisher=H.S. Wood|via=Google Books}}

He provided illustrations for Mark Twain's "Eve's Diary" in Harper's.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYsavOLN8HQC&q=julian+ralph+lester+ralph&pg=PA851|title=Critical Companion to Mark Twain: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work|first=R. Kent|last=Rasmussen|date=May 14, 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438108520|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYsavOLN8HQC&q=lester+ralph+turkey&pg=PA562|title=Critical Companion to Mark Twain: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work|first=R. Kent|last=Rasmussen|date=May 14, 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438108520|via=Google Books}} When a Charlton, Massachusetts, library expelled the book due to nude depictions by Ralph, Twain commented amusedly on the irony of making the Bible freely available.{{Cite web|url=https://marktwainstudies.com/mark-twain-controversial-art/|title=Mark Twain & Controversial Art|first=Jan|last=Kather|date=December 16, 2016}}

Ralph illustrated stories in Scribner's Magazine and Collier's, as well as Owen Wister's 1906 novel Lady Baltimore.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6JHAAAAYAAJ&q=lester+ralph+painting&pg=PR4|title=Scribner's Magazine|first1=Edward Livermore|last1=Burlingame|first2=Robert|last2=Bridges|first3=Alfred Sheppard|last3=Dashiell|first4=Harlan|last4=Logan|date=May 17, 1922|publisher=Charles Scribner%27s Sons|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1f-cvBzYdQC|title=Collier's|year=1922|via=books.google.com}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UsUVg4PmoWIC|title=Reading The Virginian in the New West|isbn=0803271042|via=books.google.com|last1=Graulich|first1=Melody|last2=Tatum|first2=Stephen|year=2003|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}

His illustrations of people dancing, including The One Step, featured on postcards and he also illustrated a Walk-Over shoe company catalog in 1916.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAzP__xv7CkC|title=The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances|isbn=9780786453603|via=books.google.com|last1=Knowles|first1=Mark|date=8 June 2009|publisher=McFarland }}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od7fvbnd02MC|title=Ladies' Home Journal|year=1915|via=books.google.com}}

Ralph was one of the artists whose illustrations were included in the gift book A Book of Sweethearts marketed as having each picture a "climax of charm and color".{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KoiAQAAMAAJ&q=a+book+of+sweethearts+lester+ralph&pg=RA4-PA29|title=The Book News Monthly|date=May 19, 1908|publisher=J. Wanamaker.|via=Google Books}}

• Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister

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Category:1870s births

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:1927 deaths

Category:19th-century war artists

Category:American illustrators