Taking to the Road

Edward Penfield (1866-1925)
"Pierce Arrow"
Pen, ink and watercolor on paper, ca. 1907
LC-USZC4-4711, or LC-USZC4-1205
Prints & Photographs Division

Edward Penfield
(1866-1925)
Automobile Calendar for 1906
New York: Moffat,
Yard, & Company
Offset color lithograph
Prints & Photographs Division
Gift of Mrs. Edward Penfield, 1933 (133.3)

Providing Americans with unprecedented mobility to visit family and friends or tour the countryside, automobiles wholly transformed leisure. These vehicles quickly became symbols of modernity, especially in the graphic arts.

Edward Penfield was an artist famous for the posters he designed for magazines, including Harper's and Collier's, and later as a successful commercial illustrator. Penfield, like his contemporary, French artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, brought the bold outlines and simple compositions found in Japanese art to his graphic design.

These drawings are from the Cabinet of American Illustration, a collection of 4,000 original works by the nation's best illustrators. The last drawing is from the Library's extensive poster collection housed in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Picnic Under the Fir
Ink and watercolor, ca. 1910
LC-USZC4-1198
Prints & Photographs Division