Edward Penfield Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
American, 1866-1925
One of the best of our native talents, Penfield is well-known for the decade 1891-1901, during which he was the art director of Harper's. For five of the ten years he produced posters for each month's issue of the then-popular magazine. His drawings are deceptively simple, with flat color and clear lines, but they always manage to convey class and refinement. And there's quite often a gentle touch of humor or irony, refreshing and frivolous. Penfield's posters are models of effective composition and economy of expression (Jack Rennert, PAI-XXVII, 555)
When his tenure at Harper's came to an end, Penfield was free to travel, and his experiences are preserved in two books published by Scribner's, Holland Sketches (1907) and Spanish Sketches (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
"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 EDWARD PENFIELD 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 simplicity that belied his meticulously crafted efforts.
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 Harper's , his work was heralded by Publisher's Weekly: "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.(Biography provided by The Vintage Poster)
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Artist: Edward Penfield
Collier's Weekly Cover, Automobile Number
By Edward Penfield
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper laid to Paperboad
Signature: Inscribed Collier's Cover Weekly/Sept. 1914/Belgian Automobile Troops/Fighting German Dragoons (on the reverse)...
Category
1910s Edward Penfield Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
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Edward Penfield figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Edward Penfield figurative drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Edward Penfield in gouache, ink, paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Edward Penfield figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Archie Gunn, Leone M. Bracker, and Abraham Walkowitz. Edward Penfield figurative drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $16,000 and tops out at $16,000, while the average work can sell for $16,000.