Call Number:

GRA 0133

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

• 4 oversize box
• 2 item (2 suitcases)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

GRA 0133, Salesman's samples of late Victorian prints and embossed die-cuts, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

approximately 1890s (inclusive)

Creator:

Creator unknown

Form:

Chromolithographs, Die cutting, Lithographs, and Samples

Abstract:

These salesman's samples of late Victorian prints and embossed die-cuts consist of 150 chromolithographic posters with two traveling cases. The collection includes idealized portraits of women, comic scenes, prints of babies and children, and genre and landscape scenes.

Chromolithographic prints (commonly referred to as "chromos") were popular during the late Victorian era (1880s-1901). Chromolithography enabled publishers to produce aesthetically appealing images more efficiently and cheaply. Artists also strategically employed chromolithography as a promotional tool to disseminate color prints of their works into the public.

While most developments in chromolithography took place in Europe, the technique was quickly taken up by American printers and flourished. Lithographic firms populated all major cities. To fuel the public's taste for chromolithographs, printers developed catalogs that advertised assortments of images. Chromolithographs often featured idealized Victorian women, eroticized "exotic" women, scenes of uninhibited women with men, boisterous children, and sentimental subjects. When used for advertising, printers would commonly insert open spaces or fields in their designs, allowing for the printing of a name or logo of an advertising company. Prints were used as decorative wall hangings, on calendar covers, Christmas and greeting cards, cigar bands and boxes, wrappers, as well as games and novelty items.

Grafton, Carol Belanger. Full-Color Victorian Vignettes and Illustrations for Artists and Craftsmen. New York: Dover Publications, 1983.Hornung, Clarence P. and Fridolf Johnson. 200 Years of American Graphic Art: A Retrospective Survey of the Printing Arts and Advertising since the Colonial Period. New York: George Braziller, 1976.Marzio, Peter C. "The Democratic Art of Chromolithography in America: An Overview." In Art & Commerce: American Prints of the Nineteenth Century, proceedings of a Conference held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 76-102. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975."Victorian Sentimental Prints, Drawings & Watercolours." Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed September 27, 2019. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/victorian-sentimental-prints-and-drawings/. Information derived from dealer description.

The salesman's samples of late Victorian prints and embossed die-cuts consist of 150 chromolithographic posters and embossed, die-cut prints. The prints originally were housed in two large leather sample cases made by Mendel & Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An American salesman likely used the cases for travel across the country in order to display and sell chromolithographs to retailers and the general public. The collection includes 64 portraits of women, 20 comic scenes and portraits, 38 prints of babies and children, 4 prints of nude women, 22 genre and landscape scenes, and 2 black-and-white prints. While the majority of the prints were produced in Germany, other prints were made in France and America. On the verso, the bulk of the prints have an identifying number, a letter class, and a stamp that reads "for the K. -T. Company."

The majority of the prints in the collection that depict women and children reflect the aesthetic of the Victorian Sentimental, characterized by a focus on tender emotions and domestic or pastoral imagery. Eight of the portraits of women depict Middle Eastern or Japanese influences in costume and setting. The backgrounds of two of these prints in particular (numbers 30148 and 34042) are reminiscent of the design of James McNeill Whistler's

Peacock Room (1876-1877). Some of the prints in the collection contain elaborate, die-cut frames with scrollwork and vegetation that appear in style to reference Art Nouveau.

The collection has many duplicate prints, in which a frame and/or subject has been reprinted. In these cases, color, size, and surface finish varies. Some of the die-cut chromolithographs have holes punched out or open areas designed for hanging. Many of the prints have decorative, open spaces that could be imprinted with advertising names or logos. Over half of the prints are embossed.

At least two of the prints (numbers 2706 and 2707) were based on paintings. One of the collection's black-and-white lithographs pictures Jules Frédéric Ballavoine's 1890 painting

Les Indiscrets (listed as "Indiscreet Butterfly" on the print). While painted sources for the other portraits in the collection have not been located, some of these likely originated from Academic paintings of female subjects.

Chromolithographs are arranged within subject categories in order of the identifying number written on the back of each print. If there are duplicates for a given print, these have been grouped together. Folders 2.6, 3.6, and 4.2 contain smaller chromolithographs, arranged within subject categories in order of the identifying number written on the back of each print.