Two Louis Rhead Art Nouveau Ink Drawings, 1890-1916

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Louis Rhead
The Arabian Nights, 1916
India ink on paper
Sight: 6 1⁄2 x 6 1⁄2 in.
Framed: 10 1⁄2 x 10 1⁄2 x 1 in.
Inscribed in pencil at center of image
Provenance: Grapefruit Moon Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Condition: Good
Value: $1,000

A wonderful original work by the gifted and prolific English-born American illustrator Louis Rhead, this showcases four vignette images which appeared as the frontispiece and chapter letter headings from the 1916 Harper & Brothers published edition of The Arabian Nights. Scheherazade is shown with a long-necked lute, depicted in an ornate costume in this india ink greyscale illustration. This is framed in an antique art nouveau bat wing gesso frame.

Bottom:
Louis Rhead (American, 1857-1926)
Untitled (Art Nouveau Maiden), 1890-1900
Ink on paper
Sight: 11 1⁄2 x 18 1⁄2 in.
Framed: 21 1⁄4 x 25 1⁄8 x 1 in.
Provenance: Grapefruit Moon Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
condition: Foxing around edges
Value: $1,600

A large original pen & ink illustration by the important Belle Epoque era poster and book illustrator Louis Rhead. This likely was done for Harper’s or Century Magazine. A great large rendering in the Art Nouveau manner and a rare surviving original illustration work by the great New York based prolific and gifted illustrator and artist.

About the artist:
Louis John Rhead (November 6, 1857 – July 29, 1926) was an English-born American artist, illustrator, author and angler who was born in Etruria, Staffordshire, England. He emigrated to the United States at the age of twenty-four. The Rhead family had operated and worked in the Staffordshire Potteries for at least three generations. Louis' father George W. Rhead worked in the pottery industry and was a highly respected gilder and ceramic artist. In the 1870s, George Rhead taught art and design in Staffordshire schools. He founded Fenton School of Art.

Because Louis demonstrated exceptional talent, when he was thirteen in 1872, his father sent him to study in Paris, France with artist Gustave Boulanger. After three years in Paris, Louis Rhead returned to work in the potteries as a ceramic artist at Minton and later at Wedgwood. In 1879 he gained a scholarship at the National Art Training School, South Kensington, London. After graduating from South Kensington in 1881, Louis Rhead worked briefly for Wedgwood and worked for the London publisher Cassell. In 1883 at the age of twenty-four, Louis Rhead was offered a position as Art Director for the U.S. publishing firm of D. Appleton in New York City. He accepted and emigrated to the U.S. in the fall of 1883. In 1884 he married Catherine Bogart Yates, thus becoming an American citizen. Louis and Catherine lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn overlooking Prospect Park for forty years.

In the early 1890s, Rhead became a prominent poster artist and was heavily influenced by the work of Swiss artist Eugène Grasset. During the poster craze of the early 1890s, Rhead's poster art appeared regularly in Harper's Bazaar, Harper's Magazine, St. Nicolas, Century Magazine, Ladies Home Journal and Scribner's Magazine. An exhibition of his work was organized by the Salon des Cent in Paris. Three of his posters were published in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche. In 1895 he won a Gold Medal for Best American Poster Design at the first International Poster Show in Boston.

By the late 1890s, the popularity of poster art declined, and Rhead turned his skills to book illustration. Between 1902 and his death in 1926, Rhead illustrated numerous children's books published by Harpers and others. Most notable among these were editions of: Robin Hood, The Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, The Deerslayer, Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Heidi.