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<TITLE>Edward Penfield Biography</TITLE>
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<TD VALIGN="TOP"> <IMG SRC="images/penfield.gif" ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="331" HEIGHT="470" VALIGN="0" HALIGN="0" VSPACE="10" HSPACE="10" BORDER="1"><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="2" FACE="HELVETICA,ARIAL"> <font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">"We
are a bit tired of the very serious nowadays, and a little frivolity is
refreshing; and yet frivolity to be successful must be most thoroughly
studied." So wrote <B>EDWARD PENFIELD (1866-1925)</B> near the outset
of his highly influential career as an illustrator, art editor, and poster
artist, a career guided by keen observation, a cosmopolitan sensibility,
and a simplicity that belied his meticulously crafted efforts. <BR>
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In looking at the work of Penfield today, we find less of what strikes
us as frivolous and more of a keen sense of design and composition. The
Art Center Bulletin of April 1925 remembered his contribution to illustrative
art this way: "To everything he produced Penfield brought his great gifts
of design and draftsmanship, a wonderful sincerity that never faltered,
and a beautiful humbleness of spirit." As early as 1894, just a year and
a half after Penfield began a series of monthly images for <I>Harper's</I>,
his work was heralded by <I>Publisher's Weekly</I>: "The advertising poster
has within recent years actually soared into the regions of art." Penfield
is also credited with bringing abstraction to commercial art through his
boldly simplified shapes. This and other stylistic trademarks resulted
from a distillation of a number of influences, including the compositional
precepts and casual poses found in Japanese prints, the hand-craftsmanship
of the Arts and Crafts movement, the impressionistic approach of Parisian
poster-making, and British poise and directness. <BR>
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Although his work is most often associated with the posters he created
for <I>Harper's Monthly</I>, he also illustrated covers and interiors
for other prominent publications including <I>Collier's, Life, Ladies'
Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Scribner's</I> and <I>Metropolitan
Magazine</I>. In addition, the master's style was readily adaptable to
use in advertising as evidenced by his work for Arrow, Kodak, and Pierce
Arrow Automobiles as well as numerous calendar publishers. <BR>
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When his tenure at <I>Harper's</I> came to an end, Penfield was free to
travel, and his experiences are preserved in two books published by Scribner's,
<I>Holland Sketches</I> (1907) and <I>Spanish Sketches</I> (1911), in
which his graphic sense blossomed in a wealth of detail. The critic Royal
Cortissoz commented: "When he made [these], he entered thoroughly into
the spirit of his themes and did some of his best work... He was never
the technical virtuoso alone. Humanity was always breaking into his world."
- Frederic
B. Taraba</font></FONT><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><BR>
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<font color="#000000" size="2" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
<B>[Probably <I>Collier's</I> cover: Policeman on horseback. oil on
board, 13.75 x 10.5"]</B> </font><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="2" FACE="HELVETICA,ARIAL">
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