Harold Nelson and the Ladies' Field - Masks and Faces

There are many columns that Nelson created decorative headings for and one of the first I was aware of was Masks and Faces...

This was a weekly column that included details and gossip about actors in professional theatre productions as opposed to the pieces dedicated to amateur theatre. 

Nelson designed a Renaissance style figure (actor?) and some classical style masks with the usual scroll announcing the title of the column. The figure is in the centre looking proudly toward the masks that he may well wear in his performance.

A sketch survives for the masks... which appear to be very similar to the final design albeit moved to the left, separated from the text. Originally Nelson conceived that the masks of Comedy and Tragedy would inhabit the whole design, although probably in the end deciding that this was too complicated and would not translate well to a wider page.

Harold Nelson, Masks and Faces (a sketch for the decorative heading for The Ladies' Field), about 1898.

Harold Nelson, Masks and Faces (final design printed in the Ladies' Field Magazine), November 1899.

The finished design is more interesting and fits better in the large page format of the magazine. It's also interesting as it is one of few designs that I come across that Nelson made for The Ladies' Field featuring a man on their own. Other designs for the magazine feature men and women or women on their own.

Of course I will be posting more in the future.

If you enjoy this please do check out my Instagram page devoted to Harold Nelson - @haroldnelson_artist 

Harold Nelson and The Ladies' Field Magazine

Harold Nelson was not just a bookplate artist or designer of stamps which is what he is mostly remembered for today. Nelson also produced illustrations for many magazines during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

One such publication was an early forerunner of Vogue, The Ladies’ Field. First published in 1898 as a weekly magazine for women, it came out on Saturdays from March 1898 to March 1922. It focused on many subjects of interest for the Victorian woman including sports, art, books, pets, fashion and many other things.

Nelson created many images for this publication between 1898 and at least 1910.

What will follow (in the coming weeks) are a selection of images, either designs drawn, printed decorative headings or covers, for the magazine. 

Harold Nelson, The Ladies' Field, 1898.

Let’s start with the logo for the magazine which regularly appeared on the introductory page behind the cover. An elegant Victorian woman holding flowers, wearing a coat emblazoned with lion rampant. Fleur de lys decorate the background with the scroll drawn over the background decoration. 

The woman is most definitely elegance personified and a perfect image for the magazine, perhaps even the ideal reader.