Louis John Rhead was born into a family of artists in Staffordshire, England in 1857. At the age of 13 he was sent to Paris to study under a famed artist and returned years later to continue his studies. By the time he arrived in America in 1888, he was in the fore front of the Art Nouveau movement along with Will Bradley and Edward Penfield. He created posters for Scribner's and The Century magazines in their art nouveau heyday. He was a great designer and his startling use of colors created art work that is still in great demand. Rhead died in 1926.

"The Century Illustrated Magazine" started its life as the successor to "Scribner's Monthly," which went out of business in 1881. (The Scribner name re-emerged in1887 as "Scribner's Magazine" and ran until 1939.)

Many of the day's most accomplished writers were regulars including Mark Twain, Jack London, Bret Hart, Joel Chandler Harris, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Silas Weir. Circulation peaked at 200,000 in 1899 and the magazine ceased publishing in 1930 as it merged with "The Forum."

Richard Watson Gilder was the editor at Scribner's and became the editor of "The Century" at its inception and continued until 1909. He convinced Mark Twain to pre-publish parts of "Huckleberry Finn" in 1884 and 1885. The three installments that were published created the sensation of the day and it was banned by the Concord Library Committee. They considered it "trashy and vicious" and "without a line that could be read by a pure-minded woman." Major newspapers of the day had sharp criticism for the work as did other literary groups.

Readers of the magazine thought otherwise and it became a hit, and Twain gained much publicity from the ban. This outcome suited Gilder and Twain and other of his creations were first printed in the magazine.

The magazine was not shy about publishing controversial social materials. Jacob Riis, known for his extensive photographic work in exposing poverty and life in the New York slums was first published in "The Century." Science and technology were also an essential part of the magazine's make-up and they were anxious to publish stories and photo-layouts of the latest technological developments.

Medium : 1 print (poster) : color

Created/Published : G.H. Buek & Co., New York, c1895

Creator : Louis Rhead, artist, 1857-1926

Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

Availability: Usually ships in one to two weeks

Product #: cph02274