Edward Penfield: Early Work

Portrait of Edward Penfield by William Vander Wyde (1871?-1929)
from a negative, gelatin on glass in the possession of
George Eastman House. Gift of New York Public Library

Edward Penfield was born in Brooklyn NY in 1866. I’m guessing that the photo above was taken during the last decade of the 19th century when Penfield had begun to make his mark in the New York literary scene as an influentional illustrator, designer, and art editor of Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Weekly, and Bazaar from 1891 through 1901. His outstanding work in a student exhibition at the Art Students League had caught the attention of Harper’s art editor of the time and he was given illustration assignments such as this one for a feature at the back of the book, Editor’s Drawer, for the December 1896 issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine.

It appears to have been drawn in pen with a spatter technique as background.

Click on the image to enlarge the drawing.

Illustrations in two colors from a story in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for May 1903. This is the title page and inserted illustrations follow. Penfield has changed his style and now signs his work with a chop.

I've always loved this drawing. It was used only 2 x 2.5 inches in size. That is one very fine action horse drawing and had to be drawn from a photograph. Click on image to enlarge.

It looks like brush or brush and a very flexible dip pen. The textured pattern is similar to that achieved by drawing with litho crayon on coquille board, as many newspaper cartoonists did at that time and in later years. That's awfully good anatomical drawing. It might have had its origins in a photo, or portions thereof, but Penfield has made the work all his own.

These two guys in the foreground look photographic because of the lack of depth. The entire group looks as if they were photographed with a longer than normal lens. A critical comment might be that they all look too much alike to anyone who has ever attended a track meet. But then I haven't read the text, so maybe they are supposed to resemble each other.

These characters are diverse and well delineated.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Comments

[eliane]

Wow, Giam, thanks for the bio!

[giam]

Eliane -- Edward Penfield is a descendant of Samuel Penfield of Lynn MA, who lived from 1651-1711. Edward's father, Josiah (1829-1904) was a merchant in Rye NY; his mother Ellen Locke Moore (1831-1917) was born in England. Edward studied in England and Holland during his years at the Art Students League. His return to Holland for the work shown here took place after a successful career in the course of which he married Jennie Judd Walker (1868-1950) daughter of Major C.A. Walker, a very successful railroad executive. I don't think he went to Europe with a backpack.

Thank you, Denis. I hope I can help you. It's just an opinion of course, but I think American illustrators have made as much a contribution to the arts as our painters have. In many cases, some succeeded at both disciplines.

[Denis Radenkovic]

Comlimenti for this blog! I know almost nothing about illustration, but would love to. I'll be quiet and start learning here from now on.

[eliane]

I never thought Penfield was a Dutch name, it clearly isn't. But he could easily have had a Dutch mother of course. He definitivly *looks* Dutch. But it's not important, I was just curious, thought you might know.

[giam]

Thanks, Eliane. My guess is that Penfield is a Cornish name. By Tre, Pol, and Pen, you shall know the Cornish men -- or so I was told by my late wife whose family had their origins in Cornwall. I think he went to Holland and Spain because he was intrigued by costume and surroundings. England, France and Italy had already been pretty well covered by other contributors to the leading monthly magazines of the time: The Century, Harper's, and Scribner's.

[eliane]

Very interesting blog! Would you know if Penfield is from Dutch descent? He looks very Dutch. Why did he travel to Holland?