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Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863, at a small town in Pennsylvania. The fierce fighting was a major turning point in the American Civil War, with an estimated 50,000 casualties—dead, wounded, and missing Union and Confederate soldiers. …
Posted in: Drawings, Flickr, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
Some people contend that great art is distinguished in the attention the artist paid to the most minute details. Artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) may be a good case in point in that he even turned his creative energy to the way in which he signed his work. H. Barbara Weinberg of the Department of American …
Posted in: Drawings, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we feature a 120-year-old card. This circa 1890 valentine features a curly-headed angel paddling a flower-laden love boat “Hearts Delight.” The sail bears the inscription: “Pray Sweetheart, send me just a line to say you’ll be my Valentine.” Happy Valentine’s Day! Learn More: Put a little romance in your life via …
Posted in: Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints. Picking a favorite Rembrandt might sound about as reasonable as choosing a favorite star or a single book to take to a desert island. But I do have a favorite–Rembrandt’s 1648 etching St. Jerome beside a Pollard Willow. St. Jerome (ca. 342-420) has …
Posted in: Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
One hundred years ago, Leighton Budd created this illustration for the January 1, 1913 edition of Puck, the humor and satire magzine. It pictures two fashionable young women stopping by a snowbank so that one of them can record her New Year’s resolutions: “1913 No Jealousy No Anger No Flirt.” Alas, it is unclear whether …
Posted in: Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Woody Woodis, Cataloging Specialist, Prints & Photographs. Imagine the pleasure of spending your days looking at cartoons created over a century ago. That opportunity landed on my desk in the form of a digitization and cataloging project of over 2,500 color cartoon illustrations published in Puck magazine between …
Posted in: Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
With the World Series just around the bend, baseball has been on my mind. In 1910, photographer Paul Thompson copyrighted a series of photographic portraits he had taken of baseball players. The portraits are simple straight-on head-and-shoulders shots with the players gazing directly back at the camera. These same portraits would serve as the basis …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. If you had to pick just one picture to represent the Battle of Antietam, which would you choose? A photograph of a young girl wearing mourning ribbons and holding a photograph of her father could symbolize the wide-spread and lasting losses …
Posted in: Drawings, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is a vintage 1883 advertisement for Prang’s Valentine Cards which shows a woman holding a group of tethered cherubs, who float like a bunch of balloons above her head. The advertisement also shows that the sale of Valentine’s greetings has been of commercial importance for well over a century. …
Posted in: Prints