Jack Sears photograph collection, 1930-1939

John Septimus “Jack” Sears (1875-1969) was born on February 20, 1875. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He studied painting and drawing with J.T. Harwood from 1891 to 1893. Between 1894 and 1897, Sears studied at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute in San Francisco, California, and at the Art Students League in New York. While in New York, Sears began working as a “joke-drawing” artist, or cartoonist for William Randolph Hearst’s Journal. Beginning in 1897, Sears took on cartoonist positions with Utah's Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, where he worked with Mahonri Young; he also contributed cartoons to various other newspapers.

Sears moved back to New York City around the turn of the century, where he worked for various news organizations and papers while continuing his study of painting with teachers such as Dan McCarthy and Robert Henri. From 1907 to 1917, Sears worked as a freelance artist. In 1919, Sears returned to Utah, where he joined the faculty of the University of Utah Department of Art. He remained an instructor and leader in the art department, organizing a program in commercial art, until 1943. Beginning in 1920, Sears also rejoined Deseret News. Sears died on June 6, 1969.