54x40½ inches, 137x103 cm. J. Ottman Litho, New York. Condition B- / C+: extensive overpainting, replaced losses, repaired tears, and creases in margins, text and image; restoration along vertical and horizontal folds. Framed.
America's most prominent poster artist in the 1890s, Penfield is best known for the over 75 posters he designed for Harper's Magazine. In addition to those small posters, Penfield also designed three, larger, posters for different bicycle companies. "Mr. Penfield has always combined a certain Parisian chic with a London poise of aristocracy and refinement blended the two by some curious, psychological sleight of hand into an expression of the best that is America" (Price p. 150). Charles Hiatt captures the essence of Penfield's ladies in Picture Posters, where he explains, "his maidens are adorably conscious of their power to charm, and are fully alive to the fact that their gowns are of the smartest" (ibid., p. 288).
