Our busy old women (1899)

This page presents "Our busy old women" (1899), created by John Samuel Pughe. Context for 1899: In the 1890s, colour lithography and Art Nouveau made the illustrated poster a celebrated art form. Japanese prints reached Europe in large numbers and influenced many artists, while photography changed what painting needed to do. Illustration in brief: Illustration serves a text or a story, a tradition that runs from decorated medieval manuscripts to printed book plates, magazines, and posters. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often described as a golden age of book and magazine illustration. The catalogue places it in Illustration. The format is portrait.

On onlly.art "Our busy old women" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size.

American, 1870–1909

If you like the visual language of John Samuel Pughe, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.