Denver Laredo Gillen (1914-1974) was an American artist and illustrator. Rising to prominence in the 1930s and 1940s, Gillen became one of the most in-demand illustrators in North America, with his work regularly appearing in Reader’s Digest, Outdoor Life, The Saturday Evening Post, and many more popular magazines of the era. In 1939, Gillen made his most lasting legacy when he created the original illustration of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer while working for Montgomery Ward in Chicago.
Later in life, Gillen moved to Mexico and began creating works of art that juxtaposed the normalcy of everyday life in Mexico with the grand, sweeping landscapes and cityscapes. Gillen’s background as a skilled commercial illustrator is clear in his artwork— each piece is formed through intricate pencil underdrawings which he painted in a series of bright, translucent color washes. Gillen passed away in Taxco, Mexico, in 1975. Today his work can be found in collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
