Edward Mason Eggleston, signature from artwork, 1919
Art Deco examples
Although not all of Eggleston’s may be considered Art Deco, he did create pieces with elements of the genre, including bright colors, abstracted florals, clean lines, sweeping curves and geometric shapes.
Art Deco depicts the modern. Here, modern living, modern choice of clothes, solid buildings with geometric shapes and clean lines.
Edward Mason Eggleston (22 November 1882 – 14 January 1941) was an American painter who specialized in calendar portraits of women, fashionable and fantastic. He was also a well known commercial illustrator doing work for companies such as the Fisk Tire Company, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Great Lakes Exposition.
He attended the Columbus Art School in Columbus, Ohio and moved to New York about 1915, where he worked to illustrate magazine covers, travel posters, advertisements and calendars.[2][4] He worked primarily with oil paints on canvas, and also with pastels, water colors, and gouache.[5]
Eggleston tapped into an American trend toward escapist fantasy during the Great Depression years of the 1930s.[6][7] Described as "storytelling," his calendar works focused on women in stylish and fashionable dresses and hats, swimwear, or costumed as Native-American women, "Egyptian goddesses," pirate girls, and women in the character of Peter Pan.[2][6][5]
Style and the Golden Age of Illustration
Eggleston painted to create illustrations. He was a successful illustrator during the 1920s and 1930s, a period included in the Golden Age of Illustration.
The work of these artists, Eggleston included, was influenced by what would sell to the American public. While boundaries were pushed with some images, such as in areas of nudity and sexuality, publishers sought images that would sell.
One aspect of Modernism (of which Art Deco is part) was that artists were resisting a status quo. It meant an artist deciding for himself or herself what standards he would aspire to achieve. By the very nature of illustration, art in which a publisher or editor has a say, the artist's deciding for himself the standards he will meet is limited.
Early life and education
Eggleston was born in Ashtabula, Ohio. By his late teens, he was living in Columbus, and was counted there in US Census in 1900.
He attended the Columbus Art School. Among his teachers for his "early training" were John N. Piersche (taught drawing at North High School), Alice Schille (studied in Paris, taught drawing, watercolor and composition at Columbus Art School), Albert C. Fauley (studied in Paris, teacher at Columbus Art School), and Harriet L. Dunn (painter active in Columbus, New York, Philadelphia, Boston & Chicago).[8]
About age 22, he entered his art in the Ohio State Fair in Columbus in 1901 and 1902, winning five awards each year.[8] In April 1903, he held an exhibition at the Columbus Pen and Pencil club, showing 30 of his paintings.[8]
He was married in Montgomery, Ohio in 1907 to Ethel Grace Leland. Around 1908, they moved to Rochester, New York, where he was listed as a "designer" in the 1909 and 1910 city directory.
For several years, he worked for others. He listed himself as an artist beginning in the 1910 census and 1911 Rochester city directory. Some of the work was for a commercial engraver in Rochester. Also, he may have worked for a printer from 1915 to 1917 in New York City; there is overlap where his name began to appear in both city directories in 1915. In 1916, Rochester’s directory reported him as having moved to New York City.
By 1918, Eggleston established his own business in Brooklyn, describing himself as a commercial illustrator in his registration for the draft.
Commercial
Painter versus illustrator, color palette
As a 20th-century illustrator, Eggleston may have had to think about the final printing process when choosing colors, because the printing process changes them.
When his painting was printed, the colors were muted.
For a painter, the painting is the final product. An illustrator's painting might be only one stage of image creation.
Eggleston created artwork for use in magazines.[9] The work can be broadly categorized as illustrations for stories and advertisements.
His work for Chase Velmo upholstery, used for car seats, showed women (and a few men) admiring or luxuriating in the upholstery of the automobile. He created artwork for Willys-Knight, Gardner, Cadillac, Kissel, Studebaker, and Buick, showing the luxury of the car interiors and exteriors.[9]
He created advertisement illustrations for household consumer products, including Dagget and Ramsdell's Perfect Cold Cream, Frostilla Fragrant Lotion, Fleur de Lis blouses, Munsingwear hosiery, Glenwood stoves, Nufashond Laces, P. N. Practical Front Corsets, Pompeian Beauty Powder, Royal Worcester Corsets, Startex towels, Tetlow's Pussywillow Talc, True Shape Hosiery, Unfruit Bananas, Vitex Ribbon, and Welsbach Gas Heaters.[9]
Better known works
In 1916, Eggleston created an iconic painting for the Fisk Tire Company, one of a number of illustrations the company used to show its advertising icon, a boy with a tire. Eggleston's painting was printed, the print varnished to resemble a painting, and hung in Fisk tire stores. He also created the art for a Great Lakes Exposition advertisement in 1937, used on "millions of posters and booklets."[10][11] He also did an Art Deco series of paintings featuring railroad destinations for the Pennsylvania Railroad.[4][7]
He produced art for calendar makers, including the American Art Works Calendar Company, Artographic (aka F.M. Turner), Beatrice Decker (B. D. Litho Company), Brown and Bigelow, Louis F. Dow, the Knapp company, the Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company, and F. A. Schneider.[9][7][6] His images were also used for jigsaw puzzles, by manufacturer brands including Perfect Picture, Madmar, Mayfair, Tuco, Harter Jiggety Jig, Zig-Zag and Dee Gee.[9]
List of works
Variations of Flame of the Mesa
The printing process allowed different versions to be made from one painting.
^"Edward M Eggleston in the U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918". ancestry.com. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Name: Edward M Eggleston Race: White Birth Date: 22 Nov 1882 Street address: 1722 Caton Ave. Residence Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA Relative: Mrs Ethel Grace Eggleston Present occupation:Illustrator (Commercial)
^ abcdSmith, Tim; Smith, Michelle (2009). Joliet's Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company. Arcadia Publishing. p. 113. ISBN9780738577265. ...best known for his images of Indian maidens, pirate girls, and bathing girls in swimsuits, as well as Peter Pan images.
^ abc"Edward Eggleston: Nymph and Frog, 1930s". 1stdibs.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020. In part as an escapist response...a huge trend of calendar art featuring exotic fantasy-themed, ethereal and breezy images of harem attired pin-up girls, and Egyptian goddesses, and mythical nudes...Edward Eggleston...seems to have taken that declaration as direct inspiration for much of his calendar work.
^ abcd"The Proposal". grapefruitmoongallery.com. 28 July 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2020. ...appeared in 1933 as a calendar print with the title Hearts Unmasked, and...as a puzzle with the title The Proposal...a pierrot clown trying to win the hand of a pretty maiden
^"Poster Girl for Great Lakes Exposition". The Noblesville Ledger. Noblesville, Indiana. March 11, 1937. p. 6. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Poster Girl for Great Lakes Exposition...EDWARD M. EGGLESTON, noted American painter and former Columbus, Ohio resident just completed an oil of nineteen-year-old Edith Backus...used on the millions of posters and booklets...
^[Auction report: "Edward M. Eggleston (1883-1941) Original Calendar / Advertising Art (c.1915). Most likely published as an advertising image (note the fine photo-like detail of the fishing rod) and possibly a calendar print.
Gouache on board, framed (33 x 24), sight size approximately 25.5 x 16.5. Signed and dated (1914) lower left."]
^"Edward Eggleston, Glamour Girl 'Dixie' Print Litho Art Deco 1929, Vintage Large Original". rubylane.com. Retrieved April 12, 2020. originally a commissioned calendar artwork under the title 'The Sweetheart of Sigmi-Chi.' Produced in 1919 this same image also appeared (with a riverboat superimposed above the subject's right shoulder) under the title "Dixie." This is the print I am offering. It was printed in 1929.
^ ab"Sweetheart of Sigma-Chi • Grapefruit Moon Gallery". Grapefruit Moon Gallery. February 10, 2008. a commissioned calendar artwork under the title "The Sweetheart of Sigmi-Chi." Produced in 1919 this same image also appeared (with a riverboat superimposed above the subject's right shoulder) under the title "Dixie.
^Copyrighted in 1926: Murphy (Thos D.) Company, Red Oak, Iowa: Opera Queen. Three-quarter length figure of a girl in evening dress, with cloak falling from shoulders, holding feather fan back of the head. Nov 8 1926
^"RARE VINTAGE PIN-UP PRINT ART DECO FANTASY MAIDEN IN A DAY IN JUNE EGGLESTON NR | #536551598". Worthpoint.com. Retrieved 2020-04-13. tintogravure by The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul Mn, by Edward M. Eggleston titled A Day In June. An enchanted fantasy art deco escapist scene featuring a young alluring maiden in nature holding court with a colorful butterfly.
^[copyright book:] Wright V. P. [publisher] Orchid(s) 0205 Dec 1, 1938
^bottom of print: "Orchids" auction report: Edward M. Eggleston (1883-1941) Original Pin-up / Glamour Art (c.1930).
Published as a calendar print. Original works by this artist are exceedingly uncommon, especially in this medium. Pastel on board, framed (31.5 x 25.5), sight size approximately 27 x 21. Signed lower left.
^Pittenger, Donald (February 2, 2015). ""Art Deco Hawaii" Exhibit". artcontrarian.blogspot.com. ...recent (3 July 2014 - 11 January 2015) exhibition at the Honolulu Museum of Art titled "Art Deco Hawaii"...Girl with ukulele - Edward Eggleston - ca. 1925-30
^Murphy (Thos D.) Company: Pipes of Pan. Girl in Peter Pan costume with pipes in left hand is seated on rock at left. Hills in background.] 4740 Nov 8 1930.
^[Heritage Auctions report: Nyph and the Frog Oil on canvas 36 x 27-1/4 inches (91.4 x 69.2 cm) Signed lower left: Eggleston
^"Enchantment". grapefruitmoongallery.com. 2 February 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020. Enchantment published by the American Art Works Calendar Company in the early 1930s.
^Murphy (Thos D.) Company: Peter Pan. Figure dressed in shirt, blouse, short trousers and cap with feather, standing on a rock. Snow covered mountains in background. 7318 Oct 28, 1931
^"Edward Eggleston Original Vintage Art Deco Poster Pennsylvania Railroad Atlantic City Resort 1935". 1stdibs.com. Retrieved April 13, 2020. travel advertising poster for Atlantic City America's Great Seashore Resort Pennsylvania Railroad...a fashionable young lady wearing an orange bathing suit with green shoes and a summer hat with a green ribbon on her hair, sitting on a sandy beach and waving ...
^"EDWARD M. EGGLESTON (1883-1941). BILLY ROSE'S AQUACADE / GREAT LAKES ... LOT 161". worthpoint.com. Retrieved April 13, 2020. The Great Lakes Exposition in 1937, he came up with his masterpiece, a synchronized swimming and aquatic show....After the success in Cleveland, Rose went on to stage his A quacade at the New York World's Fair in 1939, using this image on the cover of the programs for the event.
![1928 "Valentine Girl" used on cover of Dennison's Party Magazine, January/February 1928[28]](File:%22Valentine_Girl%22_by_Edward_Mason_Eggleston,_1928.jpg)
![1933 "Mariquita" or "Spanish Dancer"[108]](File:Mariquita_by_Edward_Mason_Eggleston,_1933.png)
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