John Gannam
John Gannam, born Fouzi Hanna Boughanam in 1905, was a painter and illustrator. He was born in Machgara in the Beqaa Valley, in the area that is now Lebanon. His family moved to the United States when he was a child, and they began using the surname Gannon. After his father died when he was 14, he left school to work, doing a newspaper route, working as a bellhop, and serving as a messenger at the Crescent Engraving Company. There he watched artists create catalog illustrations and decided he wanted to be an artist. He taught himself and built a portfolio.
In 1926, at age 18, he began looking for work as an illustrator and started using the name John Gannam. He found a job at an advertising studio in Detroit, where his talent quickly drew praise. In 1930 he moved to New York City to work in advertising, and he also began creating illustrations for magazines such as The Woman’s Home Companion, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Collier’s. In 1933 he started illustrating for The Saturday Evening Post.
Gannam specialized in watercolor paintings and was known for taking time to perfect his pieces, sometimes delaying deadlines to improve them. His work was well received by critics, and he won first prize in a nationwide contest in 1946, ahead of Norman Rockwell. He was named an Associate of the National Academy of Design and a member of the American Watercolor Society and the Artists Professional League, and he served on the board of the Danbury Academy of Arts. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1981. John Gannam died in 1965, at about age 60.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:01 (CET).