In two delightful covers for The Saturday Evening Post, Amos Sewell perfectly captures the mix of emotions that parents with young children experience during the back-to-school season. Some mothers savor the newfound peace and quiet at home as their kids head back to school, while others find themselves worrying about grades and classroom performance. Sewell never had children of his own, however his illustrations often astutely show a deep empathy for parents and offer an idealized glimpse into the innocence of childhood.
Morning Coffee Break
“Ah-h-h, this beautiful moment, this sublime hour, this whole exquisite day! Doesn’t mother love her children? They are a joy to her, and her love encompasses all the work and care, the headaches and the pains in the neck that accrue to such joy. Nevertheless, ah-h-h! In mother’s ears is a faint, faraway ringing—would it be an echo of the youthful din that has dinned in her ears all summer, or does she think she hears what she is merely imagining, a school bell ringing? Anyway, peace. A dive onto the divan. A blessed wiggling of liberated toes. Coffee—and if she doesn’t drink some in a hurry, she will fall asleep and spill it. The husband of artist Amos Sewell’s pretty lady won’t find her here when he returns from work; long before the children will come thundering in.” (The Saturday Evening Post, September 12, 1959, p. 3)
Parent-Teacher Conference
“Teacher is being kept long after school by John Howard’s mother. Mrs. H., deploring the low score on John’s report card, wonders out loud how this could happen to a boy who is naturally bright and perceptive and retentive; and teacher convinced that John got just what was coming to him, wonders silently, How many times have I heard this line before? Well, let’s face the future hopefully. If Johnny spends too much time dreaming out of the school window, probably he’ll become a framed poet or inventor, surprising his teacher to no end. Or if his problem is insufficient study, let’s believe Mrs. H. will improve her homework by making Johnny improve his.” (The Saturday Evening Post, December 12, 1959, p. 3)
Amos Sewell
Born in Oakland, California, Amos Sewell didn’t follow a straight path to becoming a commercial artist. In his younger years, he was a ranked amateur tennis player throughout the 1920s, and he continued to play recreationally into adulthood. While working full-time as a banker at Wells Fargo, Sewell dedicated his evenings to art classes at the California School of Fine Arts for eight years. When he lost his job during the Great Depression in 1930, he made a bold move to pursue his passion for art in New York City. To fund his journey, Sewell worked on a lumber boat that traveled from California to New York by way of the Panama Canal.
Upon his arrival in New York City, Sewell continued his artistic education at The Art Students League and the Grand Central School of Art, where he studied under notable instructors like Guy Pène du Bois and Harvey Dunn. Though finding work was challenging at first, by the mid-1930s, commissions from magazines and advertising agencies started coming in more steadily, allowing Sewell to establish financial stability. In 1932, he married Ruth Allen, and the couple eventually moved from Manhattan’s East Village to the artists’ colony in Westport, Connecticut, where they lived quietly until Sewell’s passing in 1983 at the age of 82.
Amos Sewell was a prolific illustrator with a successful career, creating covers for leading magazines of the era, including Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Liberty, and more. His artwork adorned 44 covers of The Saturday Evening Post, and he is also fondly remembered for his illustrations for Street & Smith detective pulp stories.