Looking For a Good Book

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

I really appreciate how Dover Publications is re-printing a large number of art books that otherwise might be forgotten.

I was not familiar with the name of Will Bradley but his work and his style is very familiar. Bradley was one of the early graphic artists who recognized the opportunities art had in the business world.  The book includes a brief, but rather thorough biography of Bradley.

The work itself is in a bold, art nouveau style.  Many of the designs appear simple on the surface, but a more solid, careful look at them shows just how intricate and complex the work is.

I’m not sure that I can pick a favorite piece – I really enjoyed the frontispiece to Peter Poodle (1906) with children sitting on chairs that look like cats, and the book cover for Stephen Crane’s War is Kind (1899), and the cover for The Romance of Zion Chapel by Richard LeGallienne (1898), and … well, I really liked most of what is here representing Will Bradley’s career.

The book contains a good deal of black and white art, but there are two-color, three-color, and four-color works as well.

Anyone interested in art or graphic arts will want to have this book in their collection.

Looking for a good book?  Will Bradley’s Graphic Art is a is a reprint of some exceptionally fine graphic art from the turn of the 19th/20th century and well worth having.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Will Bradley’s Graphic Art

editor: Clarence P. Hornung

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 0486811298

paperback, 144 pages