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Artists of “Opportunity”

The artists of Opportunity, the monthly publication of the National Urban League edited by Charles S. Johnson, were always identified in the table of contents but almost never given further biographical details in magazine’s “Who’s Who” or other text. Here are some of the leading graphic artists from the late 1920s, before photography took over. Perhaps not surprisingly, some were Black and some White. Covers are printed on a tan stock that photographed grey here.

 

Winold Reiss, “Langston Hughes,” Opportunity 5, no. 3 (March 1927).
Winold Reiss (1886–1953) No information is provided by Opportunity, even in “Who’s Who.” A White German American artist, Winold Reiss arrived in New York City in 1913, where he soon began creating sensitive representations of African Americans and Native Americans. “Reiss’s depictions avoided the racist stereotypes common at the time.” Along with his student Aaron Douglas, Reiss illustrated The New Negro: An Interpretation, a collection of Harlem literary works by Alain Leroy Locke, the first African American Rhodes scholar.—Details from National Portrait Gallery.

 

 

Aaron Douglas, [Untitled], Opportunity 5, no. 5 (May 1927).
Aaron Douglas (1899-1979). “Douglas arrived in Harlem shortly after the publication of what was immediately recognized as a landmark publication: the March 1925 issue of Survey Graphic titled, “Harlem: Mecca for the New Negro” [later published in The New Negro]. … [In New York, he studied] with German émigré artist Fritz Winold Reiss… and Du Bois, who gave him a job in the mail room of The Crisis. In 1927 … Douglas to join the staff of The Crisis as their art critic… and …illustrated God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse by James Weldon Johnson. Douglas became chairman of the art department at Fisk University while also remaining active in Harlem.—”Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist,” ed. Susan Earle (2007).

 

 

Aaron Douglas, [Untitled], Opportunity 5, no. 7 (July 1927).

 

 

Charles Cullen, “A Copper Sun,” Opportunity 5, no. 9 (September 1927).
Charles Cullen (born 1887). A White Irish American artist, influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, Cullen illustrated many of Countee Cullen’s early poetry books. These designs are often repeated in the magazines or advertisements of the period. “Countee Cullen tells an interesting tale about how the father of Charles Cullen is always interested in anyone whose name is Cullen…it was in this way that he came to buy Color, Countee Cullen’s first book, the which he sent to his son Charles…it later developed that Charles was an artist… hence these very beautiful drawings which he did for Countee Cullen’s book…and truly they are lovely to behold!” Opportunity September 1927, p. 277.

 

 

Charles Cullen, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 2 (February 1928).

 

 

James L. Wells, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 4 (April 1928).
James Lesesne Wells (1902-1993). Described in Opportunity as a “Young Negro artist living in Buffalo.” Wells studied in New York City at Teachers College and the National Academy of Design, where the owner of the New Art Circle Gallery, J.B. Neumann, saw his work and included him in the “International Modernists” exhibition in 1929. Wells became a crafts instructor at Howard University, teaching block printing, ceramics, clay modeling, and sculpture. He also developed professional and personal relationships with Alain Locke, historian Carter G. Woodson, and later, Stanley Hayter, while further developing his printmaking skills at Hayter’s Atelier 17.

 

 

Albert A. Smith, “Ethiopia–A Fantasy,” Opportunity 6, no. 6 (June 1928).
Albert Alexander Smith (1896-1940), Listed in Opportunity as “A young Negro artist now on a visit in this country from Paris where he has resided for the past seven years.” Smith was the first African American to win a scholarship to the High School of Ethical Culture and the first African American to study at the National Academy of Design. In 1920 his work was published in Crisis, shortly before he left the United States to live permanently in Europe. Often sending work back to the States, he continued to publish in Opportunity and elsewhere but died suddenly in France only forty-four years old.

 

 

James Lesesne Wells, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 7 (July 1928).

 

 

Lois Jones, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 8 (August 1928).
Lois Jones (1905-1998). Opportunity described her as “A promising young artist living in Boston.” In 1928 Jones formed and chaired the art department at the Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina, and two years later was recruited to teach at Howard University in Washington, D.C., [where she] taught design and watercolor painting for the next forty-seven years…. In 1937 Jones received a year-long fellowship that took her to Paris to live and work. This was a defining moment for the young black artist who experienced—for the first time in her life—the complete freedom to live as she wished without the indignities of segregation that she felt in the United States.”—Phillips Collection.
“In 1941, Jones entered her painting “Indian Shops Gay Head, Massachusetts” into the Corcoran Gallery’s annual competition. At the time, the Corcoran Gallery prohibited African-American artists from entering their artworks themselves. Jones had [a White artist] Céline Marie Tabary enter her painting to circumvent the rule. Jones ended up winning the Robert Woods Bliss Award for this work of art, yet she could not pick up the award herself. Tabary had to mail the award to Jones. …In 1994, the Corcoran Gallery of Art gave a public apology to Jones at the opening of the exhibition The World of Lois Mailou Jones, 50 years after Jones hid her identity.” –Karla Araujo, “Against All Odds,” Martha’s Vineyard Magazine.

 

 

D. Edouard Freeman, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 9 (September 1928).
The artist is listed in Opportunity as an “Instructor in drawing at Tuskegee.” Nothing else is known.

 

 

Lois Jones, [Untitled], Opportunity 6, no. 10 (October 1928).

 

 

Also included: Cornelius Marion Battey (1873-1927). Many of the early cover designs for Opportunity were created by photographer C.M. Battey, who, in his last years of life, turned to pen and brush. A short obituary is printed in Opportunity, May 1927, p. 126. Battey moved from Cleveland to New York City “where for six years he was superintendent of the Bradley Photographic Studio on Fifth Avenue. He went to work at the city’s most famous photographic company, Underwood and Underwood, where he was put in charge of the retouching department. Battey finally got the opportunity to work on his own. With a partner he opened the Battey and Warren Studio in New York. …Battey was one of the best pictorialists in New York City.

His work led him into a valuable friendship with black author and educator W. E. B. DuBois, one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). DuBois was also editor of the NAACP’s official magazine, The Crisis. Soon Battey’s portraits of well-known black leaders were appearing regularly on the covers of The Crisis. In 1916, Battey was invited to take over the photography department of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama [where] Battey not only taught photography but also chronicled in pictures the life of the campus.” – Black Artists in Photography (1840-1940) by George Sullivan.

Charles Cullen

Born on December 19, 1887, in LeRoy, New York (southwest of Rochester), surprisingly little is known about the American artist Charles Cullen. Here are a few more details. His father, Matthew Cullen, was born in Ireland in 1854 and moved to New York where he married a Canadian-born girl named Ellen. As the sixth of seven children, Charles was nearly 5-years-old when the family moved to Adelphi Street in Brooklyn so his father could take a job as an engineer. “Tall and blond with blue eyes” was what his WWI draft card said, excusing him from service due to poor eye sight. By 1917, he was living on East 31st Street, working as an artist at 1441 Broadway, possibly making designs the Hartford Textile Company in that building.

Around this time, Charles Cullen met the African American writer, performer, artist Bruce Nugent (1906-1987), who worked as a bellhop at the Martha Washington Hotel near Charles’ apartment. Bruce was gregarious and openly gay, while Charles was much more conservative with his sexuality (Bruce later called him insipid) but the two hit it off since they were both aspiring painters. It was certainly through Bruce that Charles began to make contact with members of the Harlem Renaissance. They collaborate several times, most notably with Aaron Douglas on the illustrations for Ebony and Topaz, A Collectanea (1927), an anthology of prose and poetry published by Opportunity magazine.

According to Gwendolyn Bennett (Opportunity September 1927), it was Matthew Cullen who gave his son a poetry book by Countee Cullen (1903-1946) entitled Color (1925). Written while still in school, Countee finished his master’s degree at Harvard and then, moved back to New York City. Charles arranged an introduction to the young Black poet, who strangely had the same family name, and showed him some drawings he had made styled after Aubrey Beardsley’s erotic black and white designs. Enticed, Countee arranged to have Charles illustrate his next book, Copper Sun (1927), followed by The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927), an illustrated second edition of Color (1928), and The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929).

At this point, Charles and Countee end their literary partnership. This may have had something to do with the artist’s next project, privately printed for Rarity Press, which was Dialogues of the Courtesans, an illustrated collection of erotic texts by Lucian of Samosata, with chapters that include “The Pleasure of Being Beaten,” “The Terror of Marriage,” and “The Lesbians,” among others. Another overtly sexual volume appeared in 1933, when Charles selected and illustrated sections of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, with an introduction by Sherwood Anderson. Charles received only one more commission, illustrating Contemporary American Men Poets in 1937 and then work dried up.

Three years later, when Charles filled out the 1940 census form, he had been without work for 156 weeks, living with a young social worker named Torlyn Perstholdt. Little else is known about Charles Cullen’s later years. A small illustrated “Life of Christ” published out of Nashville, Tennessee, must have helped pay the rent. When he died, there was no obituary.

Louis XIV Performs Apollo


 

 

Giacomo Torelli (1608-1678), Scene e machine preparate alle Nozze di Teti, balletto reale representato nella sala del piccolo Borbone (Paris, 1654). Bound with: Giacomo Torelli (1608-1678) and Giulio Strozzi (1583-1652), Feste theatrali per la Finta Pazza drama del Sig. Giulio Strozzi. Rappresentate nel piccolo Borbone in Parigi quest’anno 1645 (Paris, 1645). Text in French and Italian. Provenance: From the library of the late-eighteenth-century Milanese engineer Giacomo Antonio Besana. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2020- in process

Together with the Marquand Art and Archaeology Library, the Graphic Arts Collection acquired a first edition of this royal ballet, staged for Cardinal Mazzarino (1602-1661) with the participation of Louis XIV (1638-1715, King of France 1643-1715). Detailed plans for the inventive staging are by Giacomo Torelli (1608-1678), one of the most talented Baroque theater designers. This variant B edition in an early vellum binding retains two additional leaves with Torelli’s verses “Per la ricreazione e fuoco di Gioia,” engraved title page, plus the five folding double plates. Many pages are uncut.

 

 

Copying the dealer’s note in full:

In 1645, Torelli arrived in Paris and directed the refurbishment of the Palais Royal, the theatre built by Cardinal Richelieu. There he staged several appreciated performances, winning over not only the title of “Grand Sorcier”, but also the patronage of Cardinal Mazzarino. This famous “Noces de Pèlee et de Thétis” were staged by Torrelli in 1645, at the Petit Bourbon, with King Louis XIV dancing the role of Apollo. The libretto was composed by Francesco Buti, the music by Carlo Caproli and the ballets by Isaac de Benserade. The lavish scenographic apparati are thoroughly documented in this book, which contains the preparatory plans attributed directly to Torelli by Bjustrom. The opening verses and the following eight descriptions were penned by the Friuli librettist Giovanni Battista Amalteo, active in Vienna. The remarkably neat engravings were made by Silvestre Israël (1621-1691) after François Francart (1622-1672).

The acclaimed performance remained memorable as one of the first in Paris to exploit such complex machinery, insomuch that this edition was commissioned to eternalise this very aspect of the play. The copy also retains Torrelli’s large and inventive plates related to Finta Pazza, another work staged at the Petit Bourbon in 1645. The play had already been hailed as a great success at the premiere in Venice on 14 February 1641, with music composed by Francesco Sacrati. One can find here the title-page and the plates of the first edition of Finta Pazza, which circulated independently from the libretto, as was the case of the copies recorded by Vinet. Likewise, Gourary’s copy is with no text and intriguingly bound together with the Nozze di Teti, also without text, and other 13 suites of French and Italian theatrical, architectural and garden ornament.

This acquisition can be studied in the Firestone Library Special Collections reading room, when it reopens.

 


The Case of Lewis H. Douglass

The National Typographical Union was founded in 1852 and renamed the International Typographical Union (ITU) in 1869, the same year the first female printers were accepted as members.

Also in 1869, Lewis Henry Douglass (1840-1908), the oldest son of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), joined the Government Printing Office in Washington D.C., as the government’s first African American typesetter. In keeping with current standards for professional workers, he sent in his application to join the local branch of the ITU. This was the beginning of a protracted battle with union members arguing about whether a “colored printer” should be allowed to join their union.

When it looked as though the Columbia chapter (Washington, D.C.) was going to accept Douglass’s application, a special national committee was appointed to study the “Negro question.” Only a few years after the Civil War, the topic was deemed too sensitive to resolve immediately and they left admittance of colored printers “to the discretion of Subordinate Unions.”

May 16, 1869, the question was finally raised at a meeting of the Washington D.C. chapter, the largest meeting ever convened, and there was massive confusion, both local and national disagreement voiced, proposals and then, counter proposals. Finally, the Union proceeded to vote on all the other candidates proposed for admission, leaving Douglass for last but just before that last name was proposed, a motion to adjourn was made and the meeting was over.

“It is said that Lewis H. Douglass, colored printer, was yesterday transferred from the case to a position as copy holder in the Government Printing Office. This action would seem to take the question of the admission of colored members to the Typographical union out of the control of such organizations, as copy holders are not required to be members of such Unions. But the issue having been raised, it will probably be pressed to a decision.”—Philadelphia Inquirer June 2, 1869


“The Negro Question and the Printers–The Case of Lewis H. Douglass” The Baltimore Sun, May 17 1869

 

Many letters were written to the President of the International Typographical Union, Douglass was called a ‘rat,’ someone who works outside the union, especially for lower wages. While still a teenager, he had apprenticed in Rochester, New York, as a typesetter for his father’s newspaper The North Star and after the Civil War, Lewis and his brother, Frederick Douglass, Jr. went to Denver where Henry O. Wagoner taught them all aspect of printing. Douglass never applied for union membership at either location and this was used against him, claiming he was trying to subvert the newly formed union.

“…acting in the interest of the minority, without any instructions from the Union—without the knowledge, advice, or consent of its membership—[someone] introduced a resolution, which was adopted by that body, censuring the Congressional Printer for employing L. H. Douglass, ‘an avowed rat’ calling upon Columbia Union to reject his application, and pledging the support of the National Union in such action.”

The Washington chapter wrote to leadership, calling this action “unjust, absurd, and unparalleled,”

The minority group that was against Black members threatened to eradicate the Columbia chapter and in response, the majority group that supported Douglass threatened to withdraw entirely, writing “If [the Union votes against Douglass] we shall … withdraw from the National Union and to organize a new National Typographical Society, which shall be founded on the principles of justice to all men, regardless of race or color.”

“That there are deep-seated prejudices against the colored race no one will deny; and these prejudices are so strong in many local unions that any attempt to disregard or override them will almost inevitably lead to anarchy and disintegration . . . and surely no one who has the welfare of the craft at heart will seriously contend that the union to thousands of white printers should be destroyed for the purpose of granting a barren honor of membership to a few Negroes.”–Printers’ Circular reprinted in Proceedings of the International Typographical Union of 1870 (Philadelphia, 1870), p. 140.

Two years went by and Douglass was still neither admitted to membership nor rejected. By this time, several other Black compositors had applied for union membership along with Douglass, including his brother Frederick Douglass Jr., William A. LaVelette, and Keith Smith. Eventually LaVelette withdrew his application. Keith Smith was admitted to the union in 1872(?), and Lewis Douglass is said to have been satisfied with another situation. No record of a vote on either Douglass men can be found. Lewis Douglass went on to help establish and publish The New National Era, a weekly newspaper aimed at Washington’s African American community.

 

Read more: Philip S. Foner and Ronald L. Lewis, editors. The Black Worker, Volume 1: The Black Worker to 1896. Temple University Press, 1978. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvn1tbr6. Accessed 17 July 2020.

See also: https://loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/biographies/lewis-henry-douglass.html

In the Library Frederick Douglass Family Materials from the Walter O. Evans Collection April 22 – June 14, 2019 (National Gallery of Art, 2019)

African American Faces of the Civil War: An Album edited by Ronald S. Coddington (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012).

Aaron Guest, Newark Printer

There were two printers named Aaron Guest working in and around Newark, New Jersey, in the mid-1800s. The first might have been African American, born about 1806 and died in Passaic County, New Jersey, in 1893. He was married but no other specifics are listed. The second Aaron Guest was born about 1808, bought a home in Bergen County, New Jersey, married, and is listed as White.

He/they had a printing business in 1838/39 at 104 Market Street; 1840-46 at 121 Market-Street; and 1847-50? at 333 Broad-Street, in the rear. In 1851, the printing shop at 333 Broad Street was sold to Stephen Holbrook, and Guest’s 1851 address was simply “Michigan.”

These are the books printed by one or both Aaron Guests (about 1806-1893) in Newark, NJ 1837-1848. Are they by one or two men?

Edward Sayers, A manual on the culture of the grape,: with a dissertation on the growth and management of fruit trees, adapted to the Northern States (N.J.: Published by the author, and sold by most seedsmen & booksellers in the Union. Aaron Guest, printer, 1837).

Charter of the Bank of New-Jersey (Newark, N.J.: A. Guest, printer, 1837).

Charles Fitch, Views of sanctification (NJ: Aaron Guest, printer, 1839).

James William Charles Pennington, An address delivered at Newark, N.J. at the first anniversary of West India Emancipation: August 1, 1839 (N.J.: Aaron Guest Printer, 1839).

Tyler Thacher, Perfectionism examined (Newark [N.J.] Aaron Guest, Printer; New-York: Sold by John S. Taylor, 1840-1845).

Directory of the city of Newark, compiled by Benjamin T. Pierson. Printed by Aaron Guest, 121 Market-St., 1840-46; 333 Broad-St., in the rear., 1847-48.

Samuel E. Cornish (1795?-1858), Theodore S. Wright, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and others, The Colonization Scheme Considered: in its rejection by the colored people–in its tendency to uphold caste–in its unfitness for Christianizing and civilizing the aborigines of Africa, and for putting a stop to the African slave trade: in a letter to the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen and the Hon. Benjamin F. Butler (Newark [N.J.]: Printed by Aaron Guest, 121 Market-Street., 1840).

Charles Fitch, Letter to the Newark Presbytery (N.J., Aaron Guest, printer, 1840).
Hon. Benjamin F. Butler; by the pastors of the Colored Presbyterian Churches in the cities of Newark and New York (Newark: Aaron Guest. 1840)

William Raymond Weeks, Letter to the Rev. Charles Fitch on his views of Sanctification, by the Pastor of the fourth Presbyterian Church (Newark. Aaron Guest, 1840).

Henry William Herbert, The Magnolia: 1841 (New-York: A. & C.B. Edwards, no. 3 Park Row. Aaron Guest, printer., 1840).

James Hewson, Every man his own lawyer, or, The several modes of commencing and conducting actions in the Court for the Trial of Small Causes in the State of New Jersey: rendered plain and easy, with a variety of forms for drawing statements of demand: together with numerous references to the state laws and decisions of the Supreme Court (Newark [N.J.]: A. Guest, printer, 1841).

William Torrey, Address delivered at the temperance convention, held at Morristown, N.J., December 13, 1843; with the proceedings and resolutions of the convention, and also of that held at Hackettstown, N.J., September 26, 1843 (NJ: Aaron Guest, Printer, 1843).

Alexander Gilmore, Review of a sermon preached by N. Murray, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Elizabethtown, N.J., at the dedication of a church in Kingston, Pa. (Newark [N.J.]: Aaron Guest, printer, 121 Market-Street, 1843).

Charles Warren, Constitution of the Juvenile Temperance Band, with the duties of the officers and members, to which are appended some counsels of wisdom, and other instructive exercises (New Jersey Juvenile Temperance Band.: Aaron Guest, Printer, 1844).

Oliver S. Halsted, Address upon the character of the late the Hon. Isaac H. Williamson: delivered before the bar of New-Jersey, September 3d, 1844 (Newark, N.J.: Aaron Guest, printer, 1844).

An act to incorporate the Morris and Essex Rail Road Company passed January 29, 1835: with the supplements, passed March 2, 1836; February 22, 1838; January 24, 1839; March 1, 1842, and February 25, 1846. Morris and Essex Railroad Company (N.J.: Aaron Guest, Printer, 1846).

James Munks, Confession of James Munks, who was executed on Saturday, January 23, 1819 for the murder of Reuben Guild (N.J.: Aaron Guest, printer, 1847).

J.B. Condit, A time to die: a discourse delivered at the funeral of John S. Condit, M.D., of Lodi, Hudson County, N.J.: in the Second Presbyterian Church, Newark, April 7, 1848 (N.J.: Aaron Guest, printer, 1848).

Prospectus of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company: with tables of rates for single and joint lives, annuities, and endowments, 1848 (New Jersey, Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. N.J.: Aaron Guest, printer, 1848).

“Theodore Sedgwick Wright (Class of 1828) claims a special place in Princeton Seminary history as the first African American to attend and graduate from the Seminary. He attended from 1825 through 1828. The Board of Director’s Minute Book specifically stipulates that his race should be no bar to his admission to the Seminary (he had already been turned down by a number of institutions to which he had applied): “Dr. McAuley, on behalf of the Presbytery of Albany, applied to the Board to have Theodore Wright, a fine young man of color, admitted into the Seminary. Whereupon, resolved that his color shall form no obstacle in the way of his reception.”

“Wright was ordained by the Presbytery of Albany on February 5, 1829. He was named pastor of the First Colored Presbyterian Church of New York City and served the congregation until his death in 1847. By all reports his pastorate was a very successful one, his congregation rapidly growing until they had to find a new meeting place and eventually becoming the second largest African American church in New York City. He and his congregation were active in the Underground Railroad, helping escaping slaves in their travels from the American South to freedom in Canada. In addition, Wright served as an agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society and worked with other anti-slavery organizations, traveling and lecturing in the cause along with such other well-known African American abolitionists as Frederick Douglass.”

Read more: https://slavery.ptsem.edu/the-report/alumni/

Robert Lewis Pendleton, Pioneer Printer of Washington

Robert Lewis Pendleton (1865-1929), one of the first African American printers to establish their own firm in Washington D.C., founded the R.L. Pendleton Company, also called Pendleton’s Quality Printing House, in 1886. Over the next 44 years, his shop operated at several Washington locations including 524 10th NW.; 1103 F NW. and 609 F Street NW.

Born in Marianna, Florida, Pendleton was listed as a job printer by age of sixteen, later moving to New York City in 1884 to work on the New York Globe. The following year he was printing at the People’s Advocate in Washington D.C. and then, established his own printing business, specializing in jobs for African American organizations. Among the books he printed were those written by his wife, Leila Amos Pendleton, author of A Narrative of the Negro (1912).

In 1910, Pendleton formed the American Negro Monograph Company with John W. Cromwell, his former boss at the People’s Advocate, as the editor. They attempted to republished important African American essays that had gone out-of-print, including The confession, trial and execution of Nat Turner, the Negro insurgent (1910); Contemporary evolution of the Negro race (1910); Biography of Benjamin Banneker (1910); and The social evolution of the Black South by W.E.B. Du Bois (1911).

 

For many years, Pendleton also taught printing at Howard University and was an active supporter of the school (see his advertising in the early yearbooks). He and his wife were also active with the Black fraternal order of the Scottish Rite Masons Temple, where he served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern jurisdiction. When they were not allowed to join or use the main Temple, Pemdleton organized Black members to build their own Temple 10 blocks away.

In addition to the American Negro Monograph series, he printed the following:

Anniversary address on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., 1841-1916. Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, Printer, 1916

Articles of incorporation, constitution and by-laws of the S. Coleridge-Taylor Choral Society of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: Press of R.L. Pendleton, 1904

The Atlanta Exposition Souvenir Cook book: a safe guide to ordering and cooking. Bailey, Ida D., Mrs, compiler. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1895

The blot on the eschutcheon [sic]: an address delivered before the Afro-American League, Branch no. 1, at the Second Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., April 4th, 1890 / Bruce, John Edward. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, Printer, 1890

Catalogue of the third annual exhibition of the Tanner Art League (Colored): Art rooms, Dunbar High School, Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C.]: [Tanner Art League], 1922

Character: the true standard by which to estimate individuals and races and by which they should estimate themselves and others. This address was delivered before the Presbyterian Council at its session which was held in the Berean Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa., October 27, 1911. Grimke, Francis James, 1850-1925. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, 1911

Charitable institutions in colored churches / Crummell, Alexander, 1819-1898. [Washington, D.C.]: Press of R.L. Pendleton .., 1892

Constitution of Free Grace Lodge, no. 1343, of the G.U.O. of O.F., organized September 23, 1867: revised February 20, 1884. Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. Washington, D.C. (934 F. St., N.W.): R.L. Pendleton, Printer, 1891

Constitution of the American Negro Academy. American Negro Academy. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1905

A discourse delivered at the funeral services of Mr. George F.T. Cook: Held at the Fifteen Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. August 10th, 1912. Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937. Washington: Printed by R.L. Pendleton, 1912

The elements of permanent influence. Discourse delivered in the Fifteenth street Presbyterian church, Washington, D.C., Sunday, February 16, 1890, Blyden, Edward Wilmot, 1832-1912. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, Printer, 1890

Excerpts from a Thanksgiving sermon, delivered November 26, 1914, and two letters addressed to Hon. Woodrow Wilson, President of the U.S. Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937. [Washington, D.C.], [Printed by R.L. Pendleton], 1914

Gideon bands for work within the race and for work without the race: a message to the colored people of the United States: a discourse delivered in the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., Sunday, March the 2nd, 1913 / Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1913

A glance at the life of Ira Frederick Aldridge / Peyton, Fountain. [Washington]: [Printed by R.L. Pendleton], 1917

A glance at the past and present of the Negro: an address … delivered at Church’s Auditorium before the Citizen’s Industrial League of Memphis, Tenn., Sept. 22, 1903. Terrell, Robert Herberton, 1857-1925. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, 1903

A heavenly vista; the pilgrimage of Louis G. Gregory. Gregory, Louis G. [Washington], [Printed by R.L. Pendleton], 1900s

History of Felix Lodge no. 3, F.A.A.M. or Freemasonry in the District of Columbia from 1825 to 1908. / Severson, William H., 1845-. Washington, D.C.: Press of R.L. Pendleton, 1908

History of the Bethel Literary and Historical Association.; being a paper read before the Association on Founder’s Day, February 24, 1896. Cromwell, John Wesley, 1846-1927. Washington, D.C., Press of R.L. Pendleton, 1896

Incidents of hope for the Negro race in America: a Thanksgiving sermon, November 26th, 1895 / Crummell, Alexander, 1819-1898.; Murray, Daniel Alexander Payne, Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1895

The Jim Crow Negro / Cromwell, John Wesley, 1846-1927. Washington, D.C.: Press of R.L. Pendleton, 1904

Life and works of Phillis Wheatley: containing her complete poetical works, numerous letters, and a complete biography of this famous poet of a century and a half ago. / Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784; Renfro, G. Herbert,; Pendleton, Leila Amos,. Washington, D.C.: [R.L. Pendleton], 1916

Manual of Plymouth Congregational Church of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, printer, 1892

Memorial in honor of the late Justice John Marshall Harlan, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Monday evening, December 11th 1911, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C. . [Washington, D.C.], [R.L. Pendleton, Printer], 1911

Missing pages in American history, revealing the services of negroes in the early wars in the United States of America, 1641-1815, Wilkes, Laura E. 1871-1922. [Washington, D.C.]: [Press of R.L. Pendleton], 1919

A narrative of the Negro / Pendleton, Leila Amos, 1860- . Washington, D.C.: Press of R.L. Pendleton, 609 F Street, N.W., 1912,

The Negro from A to Z / Cosey, A. B. 1863- Washington, D.C.: Press of R.L. Pendleton, 1897

Paradise (Cleveland Park) and other poems. Jackson, Laura F. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton Printer, 1920

[Programme of] The Hiawatha trilogy, Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel, Corp : First Congregational Church (Washington, D.C.). [Washington, D.C.], [R.L. Pendleton] 1905

Progressive Negro. Washington; a souvenir album of some of the beautiful Negro churches, halls, public school buildings …. Washington: R.L. Pendleton, 1909

Race rhymes / Clifford, Carrie Williams, 1862-1934. Washington, D.C.: [Printed by R.L. Pendleton], 1911

Race solidarity / Thomas, Charles M. 1873-. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1917

Reconnaissance soil survey of the San Diego region, California / Holmes, L. C.; Pendleton, R. L. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils: G.P.O., 1918

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: an ode of welcome. Hayson, Maxwell Nicy. [Washington, D.C.]: [R.L. Pendleton], 1906

The shades and the lights of a fifty years’ ministry: jubilate / Crummell, Alexander, 1819-1898.; Cooper, Anna J. Washington, D.C.: St. Luke’s Church: [R.L. Pendleton, Printer], 1894

The Silver Bluff Church: a history of Negro Baptist churches in America / Brooks, Walter H. 1851-1945. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, 1910

Soil survey of the Ukiah area, California / Watson, E. B. 1864-1926.; Pendleton, R. L. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1916, 1919

Soil survey of the Riverside area, California / Nelson, J. W.; Watson, E. B.; Pendleton, R. L.,, and others. Washington: G.P.O., 1917

The story of Frederick Douglass: with quotations and extracts. Wilkes, Laura E. 1871-1922. Washington, D.C.: R.L. Pendleton, printer, 1899

Syllabus of an extension course of lectures on race contacts and interracial relations; a study in the theory and practice of race. Locke, Alain, 1885-1954. [Washington, D.C.], [Printed by R.L. Pendleton], 1916

Three letters addressed to the New York Independent, Winston Churchill, Rev. “Billy” Sunday. Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937.; Churchill, Winston,; Sunday, Billy. [Washington]: [Press of R.L. Pendleton], 1915

What the negro has done for himself, (a study of racial uplift). Moore, Lewis B., Rev. [Washington, D.C.], [R.L. Pendleton], 1910

The young people of to-day and the responsibility of the home in regard to them. Grimké, Francis J. 1850-1937. [Washington, D.C.]: [Press of R.L. Pendleton], 1909

Portrait of the author, Increase Mather

Robert White (1645-1703) after Jan van der Spriet (active 1690-1700), Crescentius Matherus [Portrait of Increase Mather], 1688. Engraving. Bound in: Increase Mather (1639-1723), The Life and Death of That Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard Mather, Teacher of the Church in Dorchester in New-England : [seven lines of quotations] (Cambridge [Mass.]: Printed by S.G. and M.J. [i.e., Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson], 1670. William H. Scheide Library, 101.19

 

A few months ago, a live webinar was held to investigate the woodcut portrait of Richard Mather (1596-1669) by John Foster (1648-1681), recognized as the first cut printed on a European press in Colonial  America. The print is assumed to have been created in honor of Mather’s death around 1670. While Princeton University Library holds a copy of that print, in William Scheide’s copy of The Life and Death of That Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard Mather someone has inserted an engraved portrait of the author, Increase Mather, rather than the woodcut.

Thanks to our digital studio, we now have a complete surrogate copy of the volume along with the engraving to study at home. https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/4696592

 

The Scheide volume has a dedication signed: Increase Mather. Boston N.E. Septemb. 6. 1670. The pasted in engraving holds the inscription: Crescentius Matherus. Aetatis Suae 49. 1688. Vanderspirit pinxit. R. White Sculp. Londini. This tells us that it was engraved by Robert White (1645-1703) after a drawing by Jan van der Spriet (active 1690-1700),

The portrait shows Increase Mather, aged 49, with long hair, wearing skull-cap and bands. According to Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1894), “Mather’s portrait was painted in 1688 [see below], during his visit to England, where, as an agent of the Massachusetts Colony, he had gone in the spring of that year. The artist was John vander Spriett, a Dutch mezzotint engraver of little note, who had studied under Verkolie at Amsterdam, where he had painted a few portraits. He afterward went to London, and died there about the year 1700.”

Presumably Dr. Mather, on his return home in the spring of 1692, brought back to Boston this painting of himself. Inasmuch as his eldest child, Dr. Cotton Mather, inherited the larger part of his estate, it is very likely that the picture passed into that son’s possession, and thence into the hands of his grandson Samuel. Within a few months after Dr. Mather’s portrait was painted in London, it was engraved by Robert White, an English artist of some note (born 1645, died 1704), who had made many other likenesses of distinguished persons.

It is a small copperplate engraving, about six inches by four in size, representing the bust in an oval frame, and the whole resting on a pedestal, and bears the legend “Crescentius Matherus. AEtatis Suae 49. 1688.” In the two lower corners, below the pedestal, are the following words, in small script: “Vanderspirit pinxit. R. White Sculp. Londini.” It is of excellent workmanship, the hatching is soft and delicate, and the handling of the hair graceful. While the engraver has taken some liberties in his production and has slightly changed the pose of the figure, it is evident that he followed this identical portrait.

https://www.masshist.org/database/3281

According to White’s biography written for the British Museum, the artist was the “foremost pupil of [David Loggan, 1634–1692], and inherited his position as the leading line-engraver for the print trade. His earliest print was made in 1666, and his last in 1702. His output was huge, and has never been fully catalogued. [George Vertue, 1684-1756]‘s list, reproduced by Walpole, has several hundred plates. Vertue got some information from White’s son, George: ‘Robert White Engraver did not only learn of Mr Loggan but from his infancy had an inclination to drawing & made essays in engraving and etching before he knew Loggan. He drew many buildings for Loggan & engrav’d, besides he imploy’d much of his time in drawing from the life black led upon vellum’”.

While most of White’s portraits are found as frontispieces, “A small number he published himself at his house in Bloomsbury Market …. He is said to have charged about £4 for a small plate, but up to £30 for a large one.”

 

Afrofuturism: The Graphics of Octavia E. Butler

Please join us for the latest in our series of live webinars highlighting Special Collections at Princeton University Library. This month focuses on speculative fiction, also called Afrofuturism, of Octavia E. Butler.

January 2020 brought the release of the much anticipated Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and illustrator John Jennings, the follow-up to the no.1 New York Times bestseller Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by the same award-winning team. Butler’s groundbreaking dystopian novel offers a searing vision of America’s future. Set in the year 2024, Parable presents a country marred by unattended environmental and economic crises that lead to social chaos. Residents shelter indoors, warned against venturing outside into a world eerily similar to our contemporary COVID-19 existence.

Adapting Parable and Kindred to a graphic novel format is an astounding achievement and we are fortunate to have both Damian Duffy and John Jennings with us to discuss how they accomplished it. Their adaptations capture the energy and raw emotion of Butler’s prose with visual acrobatics and succinct verbal interchanges. Join this lively discussion with Graphic Arts Curator Julie Mellby, focusing on their graphic adaptations of classic literature, along with a look at their future projects.

REGISTER HERE

Date: Friday, July 31, 2020
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Virtual

 

Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) was a renowned African-American author who was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work.

Damian Duffy is a cartoonist, scholar, writer, and teacher. He holds a MS and PhD in library and information sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is on faculty.

John Jennings is the newly appointed director of Megascope, Abrams ComicArt’s graphic imprint as well as a professor of media and cultural studies at the University of California, Riverside.

Anaïs Nin and Louise Bourgeois


(c) Museum of Modern Art. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/illustratedbooks/15383?locale=en

Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (1903–1977), known professionally as Anaïs Nin (pronounced Ana East Neen) and Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (1911–2010) were two of the strongest, most self-sustaining women of the 20th century. Together they produced a stunningly beautiful image/text narrative, He Disappeared Into Complete Silence, although they may never have met.


As Nin was signing a contract with Dutton Publishers in 1946 and preparing to close Gemor Press, where she and Gonzalo More had been hand-printing books since 1942, she expected to publish only one more title. A large folio edition of her House of Incest, which appeared in Paris in 1936 under the imprint Siana editions (Anais spelled backwards), was to be printed and published in a limited run of 50 copies. Then Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988), director of Atelier 17, the print workshop where Nin’s husband printed, walked in with another project.

Nin with Frances Steloff, at Gotham Book Mart

 

In the 1930s, Nin, her husband Hugh Guiler, More, Hayter, and Bourgeois were all living and working in Paris but when the city started mobilizing for war, they each made their separate ways to New York City. Just before leaving France, More worked with Hayter on Atelier 17’s limited edition Fraternity, which was completed in March of 1939.

When the Hayter’s studio reopened in New York, Guiler studied etching there and several of his wife’s hand-printed editions include her husband’s prints under the pseudonym Ian Hugo. Nin’s Diaries contain several mentions of Hayter stopping by Gemor Press on Macdougal Street or later 13th Street when they expanded their printing shop to include an etching press.

Nin credits Hayter with teaching her and More to print relief copperplate etchings and with bringing them work when they needed the money. There is never a mention of titles or publications, just the fact that he would bring work to their shop if an artist needed letterpress text with their fine art prints.

This might have been the case with Louise Bourgeois’s He Disappeared Into Complete Silent. There is no mention of Bourgeois in Nin’s Diaries, or of the project. Neither is Nin mentioned in Bourgeois sources. It is a tragedy the two never really collaborated. By this time, More had foolishly given away all the money needed to run the business and Nin had no choice but to close the door.

We would show more of the Gemor Press editions but someone has removed them from Firestone Library and the books will have to be replaced. Be careful when buying or selling these books to check for a Princeton property stamp inside.

 
In Paris
The House of Incest by Anaïs Nin. Paris: Siana éditions [1936].

The Winter of Artifice by Anaïs Nin. Paris; [printed in Belgium]: Obelisk Press, 1939.

Fraternity by Stephen Spender, translated by Louis Aragon. Paris: Stanley William Hayter, 1939). Text printed by Gonzalo More.

In New York City
Winter of Artifice by Anaïs Nin. Metal relief prints by Ian Hugo. [New York: Gemor Press], 1942. First edition 500 copies.

Four Poems by Sharon Vail. New York: Gemor Press, 1942.

Several Have Lived by Hugh Chisholm; Prints by André Masson. New York: Gemor Press, 1942.

Misfortunes of the Immortals by Max Ernst and Paul Éluard. Translated by Hugh Chisholm. New York: Black Sun Press (printed at the Gemor Press), 1943.

Alphabet du décor by Berthie Zilkha. pen drawings by Madison Wood. [New York: Gemor Press], 1944. 68 pages. Edition: 300

Ardentissima cura: a poem by Bernardo Clariana; translated by Dudley Fitts. New York: Gemor Press, 1st ed. 1944. [12] pages ; 22 cm. Edition: 400.

Ho! watchman of the night, ho! by Lee Ver Duft. New York: Gemor Press, 1944. 30 pages ; 23 cm. Edition: 300. Cover Art by Mastrofski.

Quinquivara by C. L. Baldwin; engravings by Ian Hugo. New York: Gemor Press, 1944.

Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin. Line engravings on copper by Ian Hugo. [New York, Gemor Press, 1944]

This Hunger by Anaïs Nin; with five colored hand-pulled woodblocks by Ian Hugo. [New York] Gemor Press, 1945. [1]-183 [1] pages, 4 leaves woodblocks. 23.2 cm. Edition: 1000 copies and limited deluxe edition: 50 copies.

A Child Born Out of the Fog by Anaïs Nin. [New York], Gemor Press, 1946. 2 preliminary leaves, 1-6 pages, 1 leaf 20 cm.
A Child Born Out of the Fog by Anaïs Nin. [New York]: Gemor Press, 1947. 4 unnumbered pages, 6 pages, 2 unnumbered pages ; 19 cm. ?2nd edition?

Moods and Melodies by Henriette Reiss. New York: Gemor Press, 1946. 2nd ed.

Mujer, Estados Unidos de América: poema radiofónico by Tana De Gámez. New York: Gemor Press, 1946.

Nine Desperate Men by C. L. Baldwin. [New York] Gemor Press 1946.

Rendezvous with Spain: A poem by Bernardo Clariana: Translated by Dudley Fitts and illustrated by Julio de Diego. New York Gemor Press 1946. Edition: 520 copies (100 in black and white, 400 in color; 20 deluxe copies have been hand colored by the artist).

He Disappeared into Complete Silence by Louise Bourgeois. Introduction by Marius Bewley. New York: Atelier 17; Printer of text: Gemor Press, printer of images: Atelier 17, 1947.

House of Incest by Anaïs Nin. New York: Gemor Press, 1947. 43 cm. Linotype and etchings. Edition: 50.

Borderbus by Juan Felipe Herrera


Borderbus. Poem by Juan Felipe Herrera. Prints by Felicia Rice. Introduction by Carmen Giménez Smith (Santa Cruz, CA: Moving Parts Press, 2019). Letterpress printed using Garamond, Meridien, and Ultra types from photopolymer plates on Rives BFK paper. Binding by Craig Jensen of BookLab II. 8 x 13 inches (extends to 17 feet). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2020- in process

 

Thanks to the assistance of our colleagues in Latin American Studies, the Graphic Arts Collection is proud to acquire a limited edition artists’ book by Juan Felipe Herrera and Felicia Rice.

Borderbus is a rendering of one long poem by Juan Felipe Herrera. The poem takes place on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bus. Two women have been detained while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, and are being transported to a detention center. They speak in English and Spanish, whispering to avoid the attention of the guard. The text is embedded in prints by the artist/publisher and interpreted in audio recordings of the poem.

One interesting element with the volume is a usb drive included with Borderbus contains two audio versions of the poem, Borderbus. The first is a moving reading of the poem in two voices, by Marisol Baca and Gabriela D. Encinas, directed by Juan Felipe Herrera and recorded by Curtis Messer. The second is a recording of Herrera reading the poem.


Felicia Rice is a book and performance artist, typographer and letterpress printer, printmaker, publisher, and educator. A student of the history of the book and printing, she also utilizes digital technology to produce limited edition artists books. Rice has collaborated with visual artists, performance artists, and writers under the Moving Parts Press imprint since 1977. Work from the Press has been included in exhibitions from New York to Mexico DF to Japan. Her books are held in library and museum collections worldwide and she has been the recipient of many awards and grants, from the NEA to the French Ministry of Culture.

 

Critic Stephen Burt praised Herrera in the New York Times as one of the first poets to successfully create “a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too.”

In 2012, Herrera was named California’s poet laureate, and the U.S. poet laureate in 2015. He has won the Hungry Mind Award of Distinction, the Focal Award, two Latino Hall of Fame Poetry Awards, and a PEN West Poetry Award. His honors include the UC Berkeley Regent’s Fellowship as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Stanford Chicano Fellows. He has also received several grants from the California Arts Council.

“In a 2004 interview at CSU-Fresno, Herrera noted the influences of three distinct Californias—the small agricultural towns of the San Joaquin Valley he knew as a child, San Diego’s Logan Heights, and San Francisco’s Mission District—on his work: “all these landscapes became stories, and all those languages became voices in my writing, all those visuals became colors and shapes, which made me more human and gave me a wide panorama to work from.” Influenced by Allen Ginsberg, Herrera’s poetry brims with simultaneity and exuberance, and often takes shape in mural-like, rather than narrative, frames.”

 


Borderbus [selection] by Juan Felipe Herrera
A dónde vamos where are we going
Speak in English or the guard is going to come
A dónde vamos where are we going
Speak in English or the guard is gonna get us hermana
Pero qué hicimos but what did we do
Speak in English come on
Nomás sé unas pocas palabras I just know a few words

You better figure it out hermana the guard is right there
See the bus driver

Tantos días y ni sabíamos para donde íbamos
So many days and we didn’t even know where we were headed

I know where we’re going
Where we always go
To some detention center to some fingerprinting hall or cube
Some warehouse warehouse after warehouse

Pero ya nos investigaron ya cruzamos ya nos cacharon
Los federales del bordo qué más quieren
But they already questioned us we already crossed over they
already grabbed us the Border Patrol what more do they want

We are on the bus now
that is all
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91751/borderbus