Through Dec. 18: Will H. Bradley exhibition
University Library announces exhibition 'Will H. Bradley, An American Artist'
12:01 p.m., Aug. 17, 2015--The University of Delaware Library has announced “Will H. Bradley, An American Artist: Selections from the Gordon A. Pfeiffer Collection,” an exhibition of rare books, manuscripts and artifacts that is on view in the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery on the second floor of the Morris Library through Friday, Dec. 18.
American artist and illustrator Will H. Bradley (1868-1962) had a marked impact on fine and commercial graphic arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He contributed to the growth of the graphic arts in the United States and influenced developments in illustration and layout practices in the book and periodical arts.
Events Stories
June 5: Blue Hen 5K
June 6-9: Food and culture series
Bradley began his career by working as a printer, from which he moved on to designing borders and illustrations for a variety of newspapers, periodicals and books. (Looking back on his career, Bradley wrote that he was always interested in being an artist and that he had first pursued printing as a means to this end.)
His 1894 design for Chap-Book, titled “The Twins,” has been called the first American Art Nouveau poster; this and other posters for the magazine brought him widespread recognition and popularity.
His cover art for Inland Printer, beginning in 1894, represented the first time that a monthly American magazine was printed with a different cover every month. His trade catalog for the Strathmore Paper Company, designed in 1895, was apparently the first such catalog that was designed to present the company’s different paper stocks with pre-printed text on them, in order to show what their paper samples actually looked like when used.
Also in 1895, Bradley founded the Wayside Press in Springfield, Massachusetts, with the intention of designing and overseeing every aspect of a book’s design and publication. During this time he published a monthly arts periodical, Bradley: His Book.
In 1897 Bradley suffered a nervous and physical breakdown from overwork, having been overwhelmed by the strain of the sheer number of projects he was trying to complete. He sold his press to John Wilson and Son of the University Press the following year, having concluded that he could no longer manage the press on his own.
Bradley’s artistic output remained immense, though, and he continued to produce a great variety of art for books, magazines, posters, trade catalogs and advertisements. From 1917 to 1930 he worked for William Randolph Hearst, producing films and magazines for Hearst’s organization.
Although Bradley officially retired from the Hearst organization in 1930, he remained an active and important member of the graphic arts world for the rest of his long life. (The following year he even designed a board game, “Pipers-3”.) Some of his final projects were books and pamphlets in which he recorded his memories of his own career.
Pfeiffer, a member of the University of Delaware’s Class of 1956, had a successful 40-year career in banking, from which he retired as senior vice president of Mellon Bank.
Throughout the book, library and collecting worlds, Pfeiffer is a renowned collector of books and ephemera. In 1977, he co-founded the Delaware Bibliophiles and has been an active member of the board of the University of Delaware Library Associates since 1979, including serving as president from 1982-1985.
This exhibition celebrates Pfeiffer's generous gift to the University of Delaware Library and highlights one of the world’s premier collections of the work of Bradley. Pfeiffer’s collection contains a great variety of books, periodicals, prints, ephemera and artifacts designed by Bradley, spanning the whole of Bradley’s long and productive career.
The exhibition is curated by Jaime Margalotti, associate librarian, in the Manuscripts and Archives Department, and Alexander C. Johnston, senior assistant librarian, in the Special Collections Department.
“Will H. Bradley, An American Artist: Selections from the Gordon A. Pfeiffer Collection,” may be viewed during regular hours of the Special Collections Department, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday evenings until 8 p.m. An online version of the exhibition is available at this website.