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| Silkscreen print by Janet Laura Scott. |
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| John Hall Thorpe, Nasturtiums |
Janet Laura Scott (born 1888) was a very famous children books illustrator for the Volland Publishing Company. I learned from this company specialized in children books and postcards in Japonisme
http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/ : (Rachel Elmer's prints and Volland).
The Volland Company was started by German immigrant Paul Frederick Volland in 1908 and continued until 1934 when the company was sold although founder Paul F. Volland was shot dead in his office by a psychotic woman in 1919.
Besides illustrating many (famous) children books for Volland in the Art Deco period Janet Laura Scott was also a very good watercolor artist as can be seen in this painting.
First I want to share some of the most irresistible illustrations with you.
From Edith Mitchell’s: “Betty and Bobby Bubble”.
(Some of these were earlier shown in Japonisme)
From (?): “Good morning dear children”.
But the big surprise is in these 4 flowers and fruits silkscreen prints that have such a familiar "feeling" about them.
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| Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style. |
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| Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style |
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| Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style |
Other printers (followers?) in the "John Hall Thorpe style" (was he the first to use the blackened background?) are American Margaret Jordan Patterson (1867-1950), British Thomas Todd Blaylock (1876-1929), Canadian Barbara Harvey Leighton (1911-1986) and the British publishing company of Ralph & Mott (active in the 1930's). You can find these printers, with many examples, treated in the Linosaurus using the search function).
Excavating and digging some further I think it will come as a surprise learning that Janet Scott was the second wife of American wood engraver and printer Carroll Thayer Berry (1886-1978). His wood engravings of coastal areas and sailing ships are well documented but I'll show you some of his little known and hardly ever seen relief prints in next posting.
Excavating and digging some further I think it will come as a surprise learning that Janet Scott was the second wife of American wood engraver and printer Carroll Thayer Berry (1886-1978). His wood engravings of coastal areas and sailing ships are well documented but I'll show you some of his little known and hardly ever seen relief prints in next posting.
I think Scott looks like she might be better than Hall Thorpe!
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about the black background. Where did it come from? Black and orange was a fashionable combination in the 1920s used by everyone from Rigden Read to Jungnickel but a quick search this morning didn't bring up anyone else. But the square prints go back to the Vienna Secession. What about Moritz Jung?
Charles
Ah...you might be right Charles, Hall Thorpe is by many considered the master of this "genre" but there are JHT haters too. It would be interesting investigating, by publishing dates, who really was the first and who followed. I even forgot Australian Ethel Stephens (1880-1944) who did also a very neat Nasturtiums print with black background. Maybe I'll show them all together in a posting one day.
ReplyDeleteJanet Laura Scott whose illustrations you show from Volland cannot be from a person born in 1919. Many were published in that year and earlier. The correct artist was born in 1888. With a little Ancestry.com research I have found her in the 1900 WI, 1910 IL, 1920 IL, 1930 IL census plus a passport application.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sending me corrections. It must have been a slip of the pen. I always try to be as accurate as possible. I'll immediately alter the date.
ReplyDeleteThe Janet Laura Scott illustrations of the girl on the swing and the girl feeding the geese are from a board book called "Happy All the Day" I have it in front of me.
ReplyDeleteThe Janet Laura Scott illustrations showing the girl feeding the geese and the girl on the swing are from a board book called "Happy All the Day." I have it in front of me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed, for stopping by and commenting.
DeleteWhat a coincidence. I have several boxes of pictures and books from my late mother which I am slowly going through. Today I came across the one illustrated on your page - the silkscreen of nasturtium with the black background. I really liked it so brought it out for more investigation and found the name Janet Laua Scott, Chicago, Il, 1919 on the back. I am going to re-frame and hang it because it is lovely.She has loads more stuff and collected children's books too. She has a set of Eileen Soper' etchings (10) framed and about 16 unframed.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as coincidence. Thank you for contacting me. What a great find. Lots of envy. Enjoy again this most wonderful print. If you have the opportunity send me photographs of Eileen Soper's work. (gerbrandcaspers@icloud.com ) A lovely artist, the "piano practise" is my favorite print.
DeleteGreetings from the Netherlands