Early 1900s Valentine with illustration by Margaret Evans Price
Valentine’s Day is approaching and it seemed appropriate to share these postcards with reproduced Vintage illustrations from the early 1900s. The small printing shop, Laughing Elephant, in the Wallingford district of Seattle, specializes in reproducing vintage books and illustration such as postcards and posters.
The first card, above, has an illustration by Margaret Evans Price. Her initials are found to the left of the boy’s shoe. Margaret Evans Price was born 1888 and died in 1973. She was a United States toy manufacturer married to Irving Price. Both husband and wife joined with Herman Fisher and co-founded Fisher-Price Toys in 1930. She illustrated children’s books and was the first Art Director of Fisher-Price. She designed push-pull toys based on characters from her children’s books.
Margaret grew up in a wealthy influential New York family. For a time, her father had a monopoly on building materials in the city and later her brother expanded the business to include book binding. Her cousin, Charles Evans Hughes, became Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Margaret Evans sold her first illustrated story to the Boston Journal in 1900 when she was 12 years old. She went to high school in Charlestown, Boston, and studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School. She also studied at the Boston Academy of Fine Arts. Before marrying she worked as a freelance artist in New York City where she was published by Rand McNally, Harper & Brothers, and Stecher Lithography. After Fisher-Price was established she continued to exhibit her work in many galleries nationally. She was also published in Nature Magazine, Women’s Home Companion, and Pictorial Review.
Margret died in 1973.
Early 1900s Valentine with illustration by Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle
Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle was born in 1865 and died in 1934. With over 3,000 signed souvenir/postcards she is considered the most prolific postcard illustrator of her era. Some of her other cards have appeared previously in this blog. Two Valentine cards are shared this week. After more than 100 years her illustrations are still popular today. It is faint but her signature can be seen at the right of the boy’s legs on the card above.
Ellen attended a one-room school until the 8th grade when she transferred to a boarding school in preparation for college. Her parents and teachers encouraged her to pursue a career in art. After finishing her studies she placed an advertisement in a local newspaper and began to teach art out of her home. At the same time she started to paint commissioned portraits and branched out to landscape paintings. She went on to become a commercial artist. Her illustrations were often used in advertising and on porcelain goods, calendars, and greeting cards. Today original single-faced cards with her illustrations are sought after by collectors. Most of her souvenir cards were produced during the golden age of postcards, 1898 to 1915.
Early 1900s postcard with illustration by Ellen Clapsaddle and published by M.W. Taggart
This is another Valentine card with an illustration by Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle and published by Taggart. M.W. Taggart was a postcard publisher specializing in holiday and greeting cards that often had patriotic or humorous scenes. The company was active between 1905 and 1910. Ellen Clapsaddle’s faint signature is found at the lower left. The Taggart company logo is found at the lower right corner, also faint and difficult to see.
Happy Valentine's Day
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Evans_Price
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Clapsaddle
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