Cornelius Hugh DeWitt (also spelled De Witt) was born in Cassel, Germany on June 6, 1905. He spent his childhood and young adulthood in Europe, where he traveled extensively. Before emigrating to the United States in 1928, he studied bookkeeping, spent one year in the Army, and worked in the advertising profession in Paris to support his study of art at the Ecole de la Grande Chaumière and Alliance Française.
DeWitt created several murals, including four for the New York World’s Fair in 1939. While working for the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, he became acquainted with Lucille Ogle, and soon launched a successful children’s book illustration career with Ogle and Golden Books. His illustrations are featured in such publications as the Regions of America series (Harper, ca. 1940-48), The Little Golden ABC (Simon and Schuster, 1951), The Golden Geography (Simon and Schuster, 1952), The Golden History of the World (Simon and Schuster, 1955), and The Human Body (Golden Press, 1959). He illustrated the first edition of The Golden Encyclopedia (written by Dorothy A. Bennett, 1946) and was a contributing artist for the later sixteen-volume Golden Book Encyclopedia (edited by Bertha Morris Parker, 1959).
DeWitt died on February 27, 1995.