The Century, August
The Century, August

Artist: Joseph Leyendecker German/ American (1874-1951)

Title: The Century, August

Plate: PM. 37

Description: Condition A.
Original lithograph from the "Das Moderne Plakat" series, View entire collection (50) 
Printed by Verlag von Gerhard Kuhtmann, Dresden, 1897.
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat. 
Certificate of Authenticity.

Plakat Sheet Size: 8 1/2 in x 11 1/4 in 21 cm x 29 cm

Price: $275.00

"Although Leyendecker was one of American's favorite illustrators and trend setters in graphic design, he remained an intensely private person throughout his life. He was born in Germany of Dutch ancestry and brought to the United States at the age of eight with his family who settled in Chicago. He studied at the Chicago Art Insitute while apprenticing as an engraver. From the age of twenty he made his living as an illustrator. His creations for men's fashions represented a revolutionary achievement, his drawings became synonymous with elegance in America" (Rennert, PAI-XXXIV, 420, 83)

 

See Parrish's Century Design The Century Magazine was first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City as a successor to Scribner's Monthly Magazine. It ceased publication in 1930.

 

After the death of Charles Scribner differences arose between the management, and the publishing firm of Charles Scribner’s Sons, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Scribner interests and a change of name to The Century Magazine in 1881. Dr. Holland was to have continued in the editorship, but before the appearance of the first issue of the Century he died, and was succeeded by Richard Watson Gilder, who from the first had been associate editor.

 

Gilder was a man of greater literary ability and finer taste, and though he could hardly have gained initial success for the venture as well as did Holland it is to him that the high rank of the Century is largely due.

 

Without neglecting fiction, poetry, and other general literature the magazine has devoted rather more attention than has Harper’s to matters of timely, though not of temporary, interest. From the first Scribner’s Monthly made much of its illustrations, and both directly and by the effect on its competitors its advent had much to do with the improvement of American engraving and printing. It claims credit for originating, in the mechanical department, several practical innovations of value, such as the dry printing of engravings. (bartleby.com)