The son of a blacksmith, George Hand Wright, N.A. always retained a sympathy for rustic subjects and working people in his illustrations for "Century", "Scribner's", "Harper's", "The Saturday Evening Post" and other publications. He researched his pictorial material as a reporter, filling innumerable sketchbooks and making his finished illustrations from these on-the-spot drawings. In fact, many of his sketches were reproduced directly in the magazines as reportorial coverage for accompanying articles. He made no distinction in approach between these commissioned illustrations and the fine arts prints, etchings or pastels to which he restricted himself in his later years. Wright studied at the Spring Garden Institute and the Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He was a member and past president of the Society of Illustrators, the Westport Artists, and the Salmagundi Club, also a member of the Dutch Treat Club and the Society of American Etchers.

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