American Art Posters of the 1890s in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including the Leonard A. Lauder Collection

American Art Posters of the 1890s in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including the Leonard A. Lauder Collection

Kiehl, David W., with essays by Phillip Dennis Cate, Nancy Finlay, and David W. Kiehl
1987
200 pages
380 illustrations
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In 1893 a poster advertising the April issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine appeared in newsstands and bookshops throughout the United States. The subject matter was unlike that of French posters of the period; this poster was modest and the style restrained. It was unlike other American posters because the product advertised was not so much commercial as it was intellectual. Despite this quiet beginning, the Harper's poster started a revolution in the history of American poster-making.

The book and magazine publishers who commissioned the first posters of this type gave free rein to their artists, many of whom, like Edward Penfield, Will H. Bradley, Maxfield Parrish, and Ethel Reed, were well-known illustrators of the time. Most of them signed their posters, which sometimes included the name of the printer as well. In other words, from the beginning the creative personalities responsible for the artistic statements were acknowledged in the American art posters of the 1890s.

Although the obvious purpose of these posters was to advertise magazines, books, and other products, they were from the very start designed to attract collectors. One poster collector wrote in 1896 that he owned about fifteen hundred American posters, although unfortunately he did not catalogue them and now many are lost to us. The first scholarly catalogue of the American 1890s art posters did not appear until 1972 in Germany. This present volume, which catalogues the holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including the impressive collection amassed by Leonard A. Lauder, is an important addition to the literature. Included here is information about nearly three hundred posters, each of which is illustrated, fifty-six in full color.

David W. Kiehl, associate curator in the Museum's Department of Prints and Photographs and compiler of the catalogue, has contributed an essay about the phenomenon of the American art poster, biographies of each artist, and a bibliography. Nancy Finlay, assistant curator at The Houghton Library at Harvard University, is the author of an essay on American posters and the publishing trade of the 1890s, while Phillip Dennis Cate, director of The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, has written about French poster antecedents, including works by such artists as Toulouse-Lautrec, Chéret, and Steinlen. Leonard A. Lauder has contributed a brief introduction describing the evolution of his collection, and Philippe de Montebello, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has provided a foreword.

Harper's: May, Edward Penfield  American, Color lithograph
Edward Penfield
Harper & Brothers
1893
The Chap-Book (The Twins), William Henry Bradley  American, Lithograph
William Henry Bradley
1894
Albert Morris Bagby's New Novel, Miss Träumerei, Ethel Reed  American, Lithograph
Ethel Reed
Lamson Wolffe & Co.
1895
Bearings, Charles Arthur Cox  American, Color lithograph
Charles Arthur Cox
The Bearings
1896
The Poster, March (Miss Art and Miss Litho), Elisha Brown Bird  American, Lithograph
Elisha Brown Bird
William H. Clemens
1896
William Henry Bradley
1896
The Chap-Book: The Blue Lady, William Henry Bradley  American, Lithograph
William Henry Bradley
Stone and Kimball
1894
Modern Art, Arthur Wesley Dow  American, Lithograph
Multiple artists/makers
1895
Florence Lundborg
William Doxey
1895
Lippincotts, February, William L. Carqueville  American, Lithograph
William L. Carqueville
J. B. Lippincott Company
1895
Lippincott's, August, William L. Carqueville  American, Lithograph
William L. Carqueville
J. B. Lippincott Company
1895
Lippincott's, February, Joseph J. Gould, Jr.  American, Lithograph
Joseph J. Gould, Jr.
J. B. Lippincott Company
1897
Lippincott's, December, Joseph J. Gould, Jr.  American, Lithograph
Joseph J. Gould, Jr.
J. B. Lippincott Company
1896
The Chap-Book, Frank Hazenplug  American, Relief
Frank Hazenplug
Stone and Kimball
1895
The Adventures of Captain Horn, Blanche McManus Mansfield  American, Commercial relief process
Blanche McManus Mansfield
Charles Scribners and Sons
1895
The Century, August, Midsummer Holiday Number, Joseph Christian Leyendecker  American, born Germany, Lithograph
Multiple artists/makers
1896
The Century, August, Midsummer Holiday Number, Maxfield Parrish  American, Lithograph
Maxfield Parrish
The Century Company
1897
Scribner's, August, Fiction Number, Maxfield Parrish  American, Lithograph
Maxfield Parrish
Charles Scribners' Sons
1897
Orient Cycles: Lead the Leaders, Edward Penfield  American, Lithograph
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1895
Ride a Stearns and Be Content, Edward Penfield  American, Lithograph
Multiple artists/makers
1896
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Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), David W. Kiehl, Phillip Dennis Cate, and Nancy Finlay, eds. 1987. American Art Posters of the 1890s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Including the Leonard A. Lauder Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art : Distributed by Abrams.