The Complete Harper’s Posters, 1893-1899

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Jan 1895]. Man shaking woman’s hand. Three-color lithograph: yellow, red and blue. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Dec 1894. Signed bottom right: EDWARD PENFIELD. 13" w. x 18" h.

Ref: Bolton, pg 11; Quincy, 161; MCMA, 238; Whitehead, pg 36; Echo, 334; PAFA, 365; Richmond, 180; Reims, 1257; DFP, 340; Wong, 59; Lauder, 161; PAI-15, 459; Swann-1924, 298; PAI-34, 97.

TO MY VALENTINE [Text on letter]

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Feb 1895]. Woman watching man at mailbox with his Valentines to be mailed. Three-color lithograph: blue, yellow and dark red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Jan 1895. Unsigned. 13" w. x 18 3/8" h.

Ref: Bolton, pg 11; Quincy, 161; MCMA, 238; Hiatt, pg 288; Whitehead, pg 36; Echo, 334; PAFA, 365; Richmond, 180; Reims, 1258; Flood, 303; DFP, 341; Lauder, 162; PAI-2, 86a; PAI-9, 439; PAI-28, 483; PAI-34, 98; PAI-35-442.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Mar 1895]. Woman in wind with March hare. Five-color lithograph: grey, light green, yellow, red and blue. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Feb 1895. Signed bottom right: EDWARD | PENFIELD. 13 7/8" w. x 19 3/8" h.

Ref: Bolton, pg 11; Quincy, 163; Hiatt, fp 288; MCMA, 240; Whitehead, pg 36; Echo, 336; Richmond, 182; Bella 2, 175; Reims, 1259; Flood, 304; La Forgue, pg 154; Hillier, pg 161; DFP, 342; Wong, 58; Margolin, pg 30; Gibson, pg 26; Lauder, 163; PAI-34, 99.

[o.p.f. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Mar 1895, A 23]. Wash on paper, 1895. 5" w. x 7 1/8" h.

Preliminary study for poster.

Ref: Gibson, pg 27; collection of Hays Penfield.

[o.p.f. Harper’s, Mar 1895, A 23]. Color lithographic reproduction. Signed in image bottom right: EDWARD | PENFIELD. Image: ?" w. x ?" h. Sheet: 11 1/4" w. x 15 1/2" h.

"The Masters of the Poster" series was originally issued in monthly installments by Imprimerie Chaix, the lithographic studio of Jules Cheret, from 1895-1900. Small reproductions of popular posters were offered in a more manageble — and affordable — standardized format for collectors. Subscribers received four prints a month, for a subscription price of $3.00 a year. Two of Edward Penfield's Harper's posters were reproduced in Maitres, A 23 and A 37.

Les maitres de l’affiche, issue 5, plate 20 (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, Mar 1896).

Ref: Maitres, 20.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Apr 1895]. Joan of Arc in armor with sword and flag. Three-color lithograph: black, yellow and red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Mar 1895. Signed lower right: EDWARD | PENFIELD. 12 7/8" w. x 17 7/8" h.

Late in 1894, Samuel Clemens—never a shrewd investor or businessman—was in serious financial trouble. Together with surmounting debts from his own publishing concern and those of failed investments, Clemens was forced into bankruptcy. He needed to pay off his debts, so he decided ‘round out’ several of his unfinished projects. His first effort was the painstakingly researched biography ‘Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.’ He completed the manuscript in France in Jan 1895, and sent it directly to Harper & Brothers.

J. Henry Harper wrote that Clemens did not want his name associated with this serious work, because the author felt “he had made a grave mistake not originally taking two noms de plume, one for his humorous writings, and one for his serious work.” Harper thought of Mark Twain’s name as ‘a most valuable asset’ to be capitalized upon, eventually acquiecsing to Clemens’ last-minute request. So the work was serialized anonymously in thirteen parts from Apr 1895 to Mar 1896, cryptically advertised as being written by ‘the most popular magazine writer.’ But by end of 1895, Harper blatantly advertised the anonymous story adjacent to Clemens’ portrait and a blurb about his upcoming ‘Tom Sawyer, Detective.’ Public speculation ran rampant as to the author’s true identity—in the press it was “attributed to several writers, no one hitting on Mr Clemens.”

Five years earlier the story of Joan of Arc had generated a lot of interest when Sarah Bernhardt dramatized the French martyr’s life in ‘Jeanne d’Arc,’ by Jules Barbier at her Théatre Porte Sainte-Martin. Her production was publicized in a grand poster by Eugene Grasset, which Penfield would use as his model. Penfield copied Grasset’s costuming right down to Bernhardt’s tunic of fleurs-de-lis. Grasset’s saintly Jeanne is stoic—oblivious to a hail of flying arrows—an ideal surely apropós to the ‘Divine Sarah.’ Penfield’s Joan is more openly defiant and warlike—in an American expansionist style—with her sword drawn.

Samuel Clemens, ‘Personal recollections of Joan of Arc; by the Sieur Louis de Conte (her page and secretary),’ part one of thirteen, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, vol 90, no 539 (Apr 1895). 680-700. Illustrated by Howard Pyle.

Ref: Bolton, pg 12; Quincy, 164; Hiatt, pg 288; MCMA, 241; Whitehead, pg 36; Echo, 337; PAFA, 366; Richmond, 183; Reims, 1260; DFP, 343; Wong, 60; Lauder, 164; PAI-34, 100.

 
Left, Sarah Bernhardt as Joan of Arc, from Le Monde, 1891; right, poster by Eugene Grasset for ‘Jeanne d’Arc,’ 1891.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1895]. Woman in a blue dress with Harper’s, wandering through a flock of sheep. Five-color lithograph: light green, blue, yellow, purple and red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Apr 1895. Signed bottom right: EDWARD | PENFIELD. 13 3/8" w. x 16 7/8" h.

Ref: MCMA, 242; Whitehead, pg 36; Reims, 1261; DFP, 344; Keay, pg 79; Lauder, 165; Swann-1941, 356; PAI-34, 101.

[o.p.f. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1895, A 25]. Pencil, ink and wash on paper, 1895. 18 1/2" w. x 19 3/4" h.

Preliminary study for poster.

Ref: Gibson, pg 26; original in print collection, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

[o.p.f. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1895, A 25]. Five-color lithographic and letterpress reproduction: light green, blue, yellow, purple and red. Signed bottom right: EDWARD | PENFIELD. Image: 5" w. x 6 1/8" h. Page: 8 1/2" w. x 12 1/2" h.

Penfield’s prints taken from Affiches, Das Plakat and Maitres are still highly collectable, and are thus included herein.

Ref: Maurice Bauwens, Tadamasa Hayashi, Jules La Forgue, Julius Meier-Graefe and Joseph Pennell, Les affiches étrangères illustrées, G. Boudét, editor, (Paris: G. Boudét, 1897).

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Jun 1895]. Engrossed graduate with pipe, ignoring rose garden. Four-color lithograph: green, yellow, red and blue. New York: Harper & Brothers, published May 1895. Signed lower left: EDWARD | PENFIELD. 12 7/8" w. x 18 1/4" h.

Ref: Quincy, 166; MCMA, 243; Whitehead, pg 36; Richmond, 185; Reims, 1262; Flood, 305; DFP, 345; Lauder, 166; PAI-34, 102.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Jul 1895]. German soldier at guardhouse. Four-color lithograph: grey, blue, yellow and red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Jun 1895. Unsigned. 14 3/16" w. x 21 5/8" h.

Poultney Bigelow grew up a diplomat’s son in Europe, studied at Yale, and there was a classmate of Frederic Remington’s. As a writer and avid traveller, he preternaturally turned toward journalism—writing on many travel- and politically-oriented issues—and founded Outing magazine in 1882. Bigelow collaborated on many pieces with Remington, and liked to think of himself as Remington’s discoverer, as he was first to publish the artist in 1886.

Penfield created this poster to publicize Bigelow’s lengthy history of the Germanic people, serialized in the Monthly as “the first popular interpretation ever given to the rehabilitation of Germany through the uprising of the German people against the Napoleanic invasion.” July’s number began the series, which was published by Harper and Brothers as a two-volume set in 1896.

Bigelow’s sympathies for the Germanic people come as no surprise when one considers that he went to school with Kaiser Wilhelm in his youth abroad. In fact, his allegiance with Germany was so strong he actively spied for Wilhelm when in Russia in 1892, under pretenses of a canoe trip with Remington for Harper’s. He later covered the Spanish-American war in Cuba for the New York Herald and Harper’s Weekly. His articles exposed the inadequacies and unpreparedness of the US army—much to the public disapproval of many including Richard Harding Davis, who labeled Bigelow’s writing as ‘treason.’

Poultney Bigelow, ‘The German struggle for liberty,’ part one in a series, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, vol 90, no 542 (Jul 1895). 202-219.

Poultney Bigelow, History of the Germanic struggle for liberty, 2 vols (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896). Illustrated by R. Caton Woodville and Otto H. Bacher.

Ref: MCMA, 244; Whitehead, pg 36; Richmond, 186; Reims, 1263; Flood, 260; DFP, 346; Lauder, 167; PAI-34, 103.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Aug 1895]. Woman at beach in bathing suit, reaching for Harper’s. Five-color lithograph: light green, brown, purple, red and black. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Jul 1895. Unsigned. 12 1/8" w. x 18 3/4" h.

Ref: MCMA, 245; Whitehead, pg 38; Echo, 338; Richmond, 187; Reims, 1264; DFP, 347; Keay, pg 80; Wong, 61; Margolin, pg 66; Lauder, 168; PAI-34, 104.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Sep 1895]. Woman with trees, type in box at lower left. Three-color lithograph and letterpress: red, blue and green on light green paper. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Aug 1895. Signed bottom center: EDWARD PENFIELD. 9" w. x 13 1/8" h.

This autumn scene shows a young reader walking through a leafless thicket of woods quite reminscent of Will Bradley’s In Russet and Gold book-cover design and ‘Blue Lady’ Chap-Book poster.

Ref: MCMA, 246; Whitehead, pg 38; Richmond, 188; Reims, 1265; DFP, 348; Lauder, 169; PAI-16, 412a; PAI-34, 105.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Oct 1895]. Hunter with Harper’s, ignoring two rabbits. Five-color lithograph: green, brown, blue, yellow and red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Sep 1895. Signed bottom right: EDWARD PENFIELD. 11 1/4" w. x 15 1/8" h.

October’s hunting season, but evidently not for the habitual reader of Harper’s—this hunter is so engrossed with his copy, he doesn’t notice the nearby rabbits. Penfield explored a similar idea with St Nick in his Dec 1903 Collier’s poster.

Ref: MCMA, 247; Whitehead, pg 38; Echo, pg 14; PAFA, 363; Richmond, 189; Reims, 1266; DFP, 349; Margolin, pg 30; Lauder, 170; PAI-16, 412b; PCI-5, 3; PAI-34, 106.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Nov 1895]. Couple appraising stabled horse at the New York horse show. Three-color lithograph: yellow, blue and red. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Oct 1895. Unsigned. 11 7/8" w. x 16 1/2" h.

In this poster, Penfield playfully depicted a fashionable young couple attending the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. The show was founded in 1883, and soon became the place to be for the social elite of New York. The secret was leaked Feb 1896 in The Poster, that “the ‘Horse Show’ poster done by Edward Penfield for Harper’s, last November, contains the portrait of the young novelist, Richard Harding Davis.”

Ref: MCMA, 248; Whitehead, pg 38; PAFA, 367; Richmond, 190; Reims, 1267; DFP, 350; Lauder, 171; PAI-31, 588; PCI-5, 4; PAI-34, 107.

[Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Dec 1895]. St Nicholas dancing with woman, three wreaths in background. Three-color lithograph and letterpress: yellow, red and blue. New York: Harper & Brothers, published Nov 1895. Signed bottom left: EDWARD PENFIELD | 1895. 20 1/4" w. x 25 1/2" h.

This poster—the largest in the Harper’s series—again depicts the jubilant St Nick that Penfield drew for the Christmas 1894 cover of Harper’s Weekly. The artwork was reproduced in red and black for the cover of the premier issue of The Poster.

“The Christmas poster for Harper’s Magazine, drawn by Edward Penfield, has attracted unusual attention. Mr. Penfield’s productions have received favorable notice in Paris, which, in truth, is praise from Sir Hubert,” wrote The Poster’s publisher Will Clemens, referring to Sir Hubert Von Herkomer, RA. “I am glad to see American talent thus recognized abroad.”

Ref: Whitehead, pg 38; Echo, 339; PAFA, 381; Richmond, 191; Reims, 1268; DFP, 351; Lauder, 172; PAI-34, 108.