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Exhibition dates: November 24, 2002- January 19, 2003
American newspapers like Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper were major, national publications from the late 1850s to well into the twentieth century.
Publishers hired artists and engravers to produce illustrations to accompany news reports as well as fictional stories. With a weekly publication schedule, illustrators had to work rapidly to produce pictures that were current and accurate to the story.
Illustrators featured in American newspapers included political cartoonist Thomas Nast and the American painter Winslow Homer, as well as less-known artists such as Frederick Stuart Church, A.B. Frost, and Rosina Emmet Sherwood.
Newspapers printed seasonal illustrations to embellish their holiday issues. Through these pictures Americans learned about popular Christmas traditions as well as gift and decorating ideas. A family’s prosperity in the Victorian era was represented by the ability to celebrate Christmas with sumptuous feasts and an ever-growing array of mass-manufactured goods.
Scenes of Christmas features the Dale and Rosie Horst collection of 67 American newspaper illustrations. The Victorian-era artifacts are from the permanent collections of Kauffman Museum.
Guest curators: Dale & Rosie Horst
Exhibition team: Sonya Buller, David Kreider, Rachel Pannabecker, Arlin Ratzlaff, Bob Regier, Chuck Regier, Irma Voran, Elizabeth Zerger
January 12, 3:30 pm Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum,
“The Story of American Newspaper Illustrations”
by Dale Horst
