A Date with Art: The Business of Illustrated Calendars

January 25, 2014 - May 18, 2014
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), Prometheus, oil on panel, 1919. The Illustrated Gallery, Fort Washington, Pa.  For 1920 GE Edison Mazda calendar.

Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), Prometheus, oil on panel, 1919. The Illustrated Gallery, Fort Washington, Pa. For 1920 GE Edison Mazda calendar.

Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth—foremost illustrators in the first half of the 20th century—created some of their best-known images for advertising calendars. 

Calendars hung in millions of homes, shops and offices, providing artists with an opportunity to disseminate their work to a much broader audience than that for books or magazines. A Date with Art: The Business of Illustrated Calendars introduced visitors to the once-thriving, lucrative business of illustrated calendars. From Parrish’s haunting work for General Electric’s Edison Mazda brand to Norman Rockwell’s iconic images for the Boy Scouts of America, calendar images contributed greatly to an artist’s popular reputation. Yet just as these four artists reaped financial benefit and fame by creating art for calendars, the connection to commercial ventures at times undermined their critical reputations as artists. This exhibition revealed the various ways in which Pyle, Parrish, Rockwell and Wyeth integrated calendar work into their careers, adapting to shifting views of contemporary art, illustration and business. This exhibition was made possible by a generous gift by Linda L. Bean.