The Switchboard Matchmaker (1915)

"The Switchboard Matchmaker" (1915) is a work by Angus MacDonall. About the period around 1915: Dada and Surrealism followed the First World War, the Bauhaus school was founded in 1919, and Art Deco became the fashionable decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. The first decades of the twentieth century were a period of rapid experiment, with Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and the first abstract painting appearing within a few years of each other. The catalogue places it in Illustration. The format is portrait. Background on Illustration: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often described as a golden age of book and magazine illustration. Illustration serves a text or a story, a tradition that runs from decorated medieval manuscripts to printed book plates, magazines, and posters.

Everything for "The Switchboard Matchmaker" arrives digitally: Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI. Once payment is confirmed, an email brings the download link, and from there you decide how to print it, whether at home, at a print shop, or through an online service. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. Matching the frame to the image proportions avoids cropping. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. 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, 1876–1927

If you like the visual language of Angus MacDonall, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.