Harper’s Magazine Christmas, 1892

Grasset was among the most successful graphic designers in late-nineteenth century Paris and played a major role in the burgeoning "poster craze" of the period, along with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, and Théophile Steinlen. The American firm Harper and Brother’s commissioned him to design the cover of the 1892 Christmas issue of Harper’s Magazine as well as a small poster intended for display in news stands and booksellers’ windows. In the art nouveau-style poster, a winged angel blowing a brass horn stands before a backdrop composed of a decorative vegetal pattern. While it was typical for publishing firms to commission posters for their holiday issues, the popularity of Grasset’s design prompted Harper and Brother’s to issue a poster announcing the release of every monthly issue of its magazine. They turned to the head of their art department, Edward Penfield, who designed his first poster for the magazine in April 1893, initiating the literary poster boom of the 1890s in the United States.