Morning Journal

&quotRhead always paid close attention to the decorative side of poster design, and we can discern this in the minutely detailed patterns on the woman’s dresses, the rooster’s feathers, and even the veins on leaves. It all adds up to virtually all the ingredients of art nouveau, which was just coming into vogue. Rhead was the only American artist to achieve the distinction of having a solo exhibition of his poster work both in London (1896) and in Paris (1897)… Born in England, Rhead arrived in New York in 1883 to work for publisher D.Appleton. Independently, he also designed book covers and bindings, and even contributed patterns for art needlework to women’s magazines. His first poster proved him to be a master. He understood lithography and made his designs easy on the printer. Perhaps for that reason, he was avidly sought after to design posters for newspapers and periodicals&quot (Rennert, PAI-XXXI, 467,468)