Edward Jump

Edward Jump (1831?-1883) was a French-American artist popular for his drawings and sketches in the United States during the mid-19th Century.

[2] He traveled in the Western United States, returned to Paris for a short time and then back to the U.S.[2][3] While living in California, Jump, who was both a talented painter and cartoonist, made a living drawing commercial signs, painting portraits, and producing humorous cartoons of political figures for various publications.

[2] He worked in many places around the state, but mostly in San Francisco; there he created labels for whiskey bottles, and caricatures of contemporary figures.

[6][7] In 1878, while working on sketches of the New Orleans Mardi Gras for the Frank Leslie's Weekly, Jump was arrested on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon when a pistol fell from his pocket and discharged.

Finally, in 1880, Jump and his wife settled in Chicago, where he was just able to make a living by producing circus and theatrical posters.

Michael G. Mattis of the Sacramento Bee wrote that Jump "had an eye for accurate detail, even when his aim was burlesque.

One of the pleasures his audiences got from his drawings was that in crowd scenes it was always possible to recognize the faces of scores of notable San Franciscans.

I draw caricatures for the bar-rooms, and do these big posters for the theaters, and make sketches for private individuals, and so on.The Chicago Tribune said that Jump:[3] despite his dissolute habits, was possessed of no mean talent in his particular line.

.A dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri,[3] said that Jump: was known as an eccentric character, but a fellow of some talent, and very apt at cartoons.

Free and easy specimens of his work adorn the walls of several leading saloons and sporting headquarters.

Through his paintings[,] he was as well known as any man in the city.On April 21, 1883, Jump committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol,[13] driven to depression by the state of his marriage, financial issues, and alcoholism.

[13] The article described how Jump wrote two final letters, one addressed to his wife, and another to a lodge in St. Louis, where he was a member.