Edward Penfield, Artist

Source: Bradley, His Book, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May, 1896)

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20443128
Accessed: 10-12-2017 11:04 UTC

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 LIFE ' Life s a grind: Asorryfew arebluntedintheir aim; and
sme are sharpnekee and true, and carve their way to fame.
E:DWARD PENFLELD, ARTIST
One might say "po r tist, for it is bough
his posters that we have come to know him; yet
sucia tideleavesanu satimre onte
2 mind, oneprefrs to speakof him simply as
Edward Pnid,Artist.
hItis but afew years since Mr. Penfield began
hi swork-dates are s a hisosters
not to satisy the craze for coIcdn
tu purdlyandpt to advertiseEl
Magaze. Theywere go and did theirwo
well, and should have as art not posters
But we learned that Paris was raving over the
work of Ceret, Grat and others. If postes
wae beig collected and shown abr wh
should notwe collect and exhibit them here?
Apostertohavevaluew be atoncepl
effective, and out of the ordinary; in g teat,
it offes ideal mateial for newspaper illustratio.
Publisherwere quik to re this,an as a re
sult, weopenedourarmsto the cild of a f
land; we caught the a som have cal7i
a diseas-; wemustbuy, sell and e ach e,but
what? Not theatrial posters. Some ofrthem
were good, but how were we to decide which
1] weregooa 'We could not collect aI of
there were too man. 'We must begi'nwiSbo
posters, and then we discovered there was but one
man who work was worthy-rd so, at the
verybe6inning of the hhitory of thep crzein America stands
theworkdofEwardPenieldt not tieresult, but in no sense.,
the caue of what hs prowed a very popular fad.
And so one prers to caUl him smpty Artist, for
he is like a tree that is wel rooted, and'strong in
everybranch Wehaveseen its leaves and flowers;
thy have ned the atmosphere of art; and
now there is. the ruddy i
when we forget posters as a craze
aadvalue the asart,as a me
dium tbrough which the artist
speaks, then the fruit will have
mellowed and ripened, an we
shall reaize better than now, the J
thoug care andpatien nM
,sarv in to tstage.
b llSr. Pienfeld's work is wholly ~
hisexpression;
an own. Ita mode
representathoght;
of teatmnt which belong to him alone;

thffe ibehind it aJ there is lif etthere s draw-'gt,a.nd good draw

in g. Thi alone maks him a msr; =n in of repro
ductin, that difficult point to whih so few give even a passing
thought, he is a p ast.
^ kEisJuy'95S~~oster the textre ofthe cloth in the mas
usr rc$of-the veivet fin the wwn, ma
ably reproduced. One might mention such deta many other
posters. They are new, no one else has accompsh so uch;
no one else has even attemptd it
is isnt not wiin the scope of this article to tel how all this is

it;s4S

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effected, and yet the preparation of onc color upon c
paper, and another color in spatter work andcrayon upon another
kind of paper, the hammering of a stipple in the metal plate, are
all1 matters woy of thought, and they lend a
harmandsw etneS to the work of this manthat
can be found -in the work of no other.
And just a word about his ideas They are
always timey, with Wit, and in ever
way hippy colo Is deligtfl
strong and -esh his aent dainty.
M. Penfi can give but ttle time to his
own dawings, for much of it is spent i examin
m the work of others at timair rskome duty.
Wo be at the head of the art d t of a putb
lishing house suc as Harper' an atLainment
worthy of praise; worthy of treat prise In a
ong man. To do ch wor as eh asdone '
with all his other dutie Is to haove labored hard.
For al the reasons amed. he stanis first among d of
psesin America to-day.
Because he looks upon the poster wholly as a medum of ex
preston peculiarly adapted to his own l of thogt; became
he ve ws it only
in that light, and
beasme he b do
ing other
md~~~~~~a lookE n
__beyond ward
PenfPeld bids fair
to remain at the
head of the school
Ihe The few
hwho might be his
companions have
not as yet ma
poeS.U
Cs SixeaM.plesof
Mr. Penfield's
work are repro
duced in this
number; the raW
bits call to mind
his now famou
Alrc Hare-"
and are in thei
way quite as in
b Eqteresting; theface
at the head of this
page andtheman
onL opposite page,
are studies made
for two of the
Har_pe posters
Tin
and has sfee
it' ~~~~~~some by ove-r
reduction, yet is
r. ~~~~~Thetwoocere
stillverypeang
sinare fronu
,( *2~iU'~S' Ss' ~A publishedposters.

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