Will Bradley: The King of American Art Nouveau
Will Bradley was a Boston-born American Art Nouveau artist. Bradley started his adventure when he was twelve years old. Bradley learned skills that would come in handy later in life while working at the printer's shop. As a result, by the age of nineteen, he had already established himself as a stage builder at the Knight and Leonard printing firm.
Inspired by English Sources
At this point, he gained an interest in magazines and library books. Over the years, Bradley has been referred to as the "king of American Art Nouveau." At the same time, he was a photographer, production director, designer, typographer, and illustrator. Bradley was a local artiste. He was one of the most prolific artists in America during his time and years to come. Bradley was inspired by English sources while most of his counterparts such as Louis Rhead adopted French posters. He used pen and ink for his illustrations, something that gathered a lot of attention. Bradley's work for the Chap Book sparked the art nouveau in America (Lindsay 56). His design for the Chap Book titled The Twins became known as the first American Art Nouveau poster. It was this poster and others that would eventually make him famous founding the American Art Nouveau.
The Influence of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau was inspired by organic and geometric forms to create art. Most artists used glass and ceramic designs to create art. Bradley was among the artists who made an effect on creativity nouveau illustration in America. He ignored all the prevailing conventions and rules to go for a design that was unique. It made him come out as innovative and creative, unlike other traditional artists. Bradley used his typographic design whereby the letters were spaced in a manner where all the lines (long or short) were the same length creating a rectangle. He produced a lot of posters and advertisements using this style. It was after the success of his typographic style that he came across a new inspiration. In a visit to the Boston public library, Bradley became intrigued by a collection of small printed colonial New England chapbooks. The style used on these books inspired him to start on a new type of graphic arts that would later be called the chapbook style (Koch 84). A change of form landed him a job as a consultant at the American Type Founders where he designed The American Chapbook. It was a series of twelve little books. The poster created for The Chap-Book, The Twins was considered the first American Art Nouveau poster. Additionally, he later made monthly covers for The Inland Printer which had a high display of his capabilities as an illustrator.
Influence from Aubrey Beardsley and Japanese Prints
The Twins displayed some influence of Aubrey Beardsley, a British illustrator. Most critics often referred to Bradley as the American Beardsley for borrowing most of his inspiration from the British illustrator. In the early 1890s, Bradley had come across the work of Beardsley and admired it. However, Bradley never imitated his work but merely used Beardsley's style as a stepping stone to his new graphic designs. It included a combination of visual effects and image to produce a captivating design. He used Beardsley's style of curved, flat, dark, and broad stretches of light to create his design (Weisberg, Gabriel, & Elizabeth 98). Consequently, the difference was evident because Bradley did not incorporate the dark sensuality that dominated much of Beardsley's art. Bradley also borrowed some concepts from Japanese prints which had full color and flat contours. Through the cross-borrowing Bradley developed the use of curves dominant in the Art Nouveau movement that influenced most of Europe at the time. It slowly started taking the void in the American art style of art. Therefore, Bradley is considered the founding father of the Art Nouveau movement in America. It was through his new designs in the illustration that brought into focus the Art Nouveau movement to the states.
The Later Years of Bradley's Career
Bradley was making a success from his commissions in Chicago. However, in 1894 he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts to explore other business ventures. Eventually, he opened his private press called Wayside Press and focused on publishing his book. After a while Bradley: His Book was released, it contained short stories, poems, advertisements, and illustrations. The paper found success and sold a lot of copies. However, he suffered a nervous breakdown when the work of being his illustrator and producer became too much. After the incident, he let go of the book concentrating on another platform of pamphlet work. During this period, his style also changed to that of Arts and Crafts. It was inspired by the work of artists such as William Morris and Walter Crane (Bambace 20). His poster designs also showed some evidence of the influence of designers such as Eugene Grasset and Louis Rhead. Ethel was, in fact, the first American female graphic designer to be recognized. Rhead, on the other hand, immigrated to America and together with Bradley became the front runners of art nouveau through their illustrations and graphic designs. It was at this point in his life that Bradley's publications at Wayside Press presented a lot of skill nouveau forms.
Inspired by Colonial Printing and Architecture
The works of other artists created an inspiration for Bradley. Through the incorporation of their art forms and his own, he was able to develop outstanding illustrations. Apart from this, Bradley was also captivated by the Colonial style of printing. During this time, the colonial print style was popular in American architecture. As such, Bradley aimed at reviving the printing style and using it in his illustrations. In particular, he applied the Caslon typeface, woodblock print, and historical layout styles (Koch 212). The techniques were employed in his pictures to mimic a type of typography he described as joyous. Additionally, in the 1900s his style took a different direction. Through commission work for Collier's magazine, Bradley created five covers for them that became outstanding. The magazine had been searching for artists to improve their visual effects. Thus, Bradley created never seen before designs. The covers were designed in a playful and cartoonish manner. It was this kind of style that continued to dominate most of his illustrations after that. Such designs had a significant effect on the art nouveau figure in the U.S. and the rest of the world (Aslin 76). It was different because the form of art nouveau was only seen in Europe at the time.
The Influence of Bradley's Illustrations
The influence of Bradley's illustration also had a significant effect on art nouveau through his architecture and design works. The industry of art nouveau continued to grow because of Bradley's work. It was during this time the architecture industry was growing in the states. As such Bradley started getting contracts to make interior designs for certain design companies such as the Ladies' Home Journal. It led to the development of house trends in the states and took on to other parts like Britain. However, he continued to design illustrations for books, magazines, and periodicals. Over the decades, he continued to produce covers for books. They were widely used and even copied for re-use in other book titles. The sheets were in range varieties regarding color and design. Most of his plans for covers were simple but with a certain sophistication to capture the mind of readers. Consequently, he applied the various styles he had learned over time such as colonial, poster style, and art nouveau (Art Institute of Chicago 56). It profoundly influenced the development of art nouveau in America.
The Legacy of Will Bradley
Bradley lived during an era where art nouveau meant a lot to many artists. Art nouveau was decorative in style, incorporating the use of visual arts and interior design (Amaya 67). As such, he tried as much as possible to create illustrations that aimed at making both a visual and new design. He went against standard rules and conventions that were mostly used to come up with his design style. It worked out successfully because he got a lot of commissions from many publishing and press companies. Notably, he worked with the Inland Printer, Collier's magazine, and his own Wayside Press. However, Bradley sold Wayside Press to Cambridge University Press due to the delegation and financial issues. He had suffered a nervous breakdown before due to overworking, thus, the decision to sell his press company did not come as a surprise. It was a wise decision since he could spend some of his free time to rest and concentrate on other projects. Nevertheless, Bradley continued to work on his illustrations and designs for years to come. The now-famous artiste of his time settled with the Hearst Organization and continued with his typographical works. He kept working on more projects with an aim to introduce more visual art forms in America until his death. Bradley made a significant effect on the growth and development of art nouveau in the United States.
Work Cited
Amaya, Mario. Art Nouveau. New York: E.P. Dutton, and London: Studio Vista Limited, 1966.
American Type Founders. American line type book borders and ornaments. Boston: American Type Founders, 1906
Art Institute of Chicago. Catalogue of designs by Walter Crane. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1892.
Aslin, Elizabeth. The aesthetic movement: prelude to Art Nouveau. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
Bambace, Anthony and Will, Bradley: His Work. A Bibliographical Guide. New Cstle, Del. Oak Knoll Press, 1995.
Koch, Robert and Will, Bradley: American Artist in Print. A collector’s Guide. New York. Hudson Hills Press, 2002
Lindsay, Martin S. “Will H. Bradley, Master of American Art Nouveau.” Will H. Bradley, willbradley.com/.
Weisberg, Gabriel P., and Elizabeth, Menon. Art nouveau: a research guide for design reform in France, Belgium, England, and the United States. Routledge, 2013.
