Aug 03, 2011 - Sale 2252

Sale 2252 - Lot 40

Price Realized: $ 900
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
ETHEL REED (1876- ?) THE HOUSE OF THE TREES AND OTHER POEMS. 1895.
18x9 1/4 inches, 45 3/4x23 1/2 cm. Lamson, Wolffe & Co., New York.
Condition A / A-: minor creases and discoloration at edges and corners. Framed.
Reed's biography remains a mystery within the annals of the poster world. From an early career as a book illustrator, she had a meteoric poster design career. In 1895 and 1896, Reed produced some twenty-four different posters, many of which achieved international acclaim. In May 1896 she went to Europe, designed one more poster, and then completely disappeared from public view. Her posters "favored female figures —if young girls, they are often knowingly naughty— frequently surrounded by either poppies or lilies, which to the fin-de-siecle mind were fraught with secret meanings" (Kiehl p. 191). Kiehl 237, DFP-I 419, Reims 1285.