Field Flowers

Created when Will H. Bradley was just 20 years old, this early color zincograph reveals the budding talent of the artist who would become known as the 'Dean of American Designers.' Working as a young typographer and wood engraver in Chicago at the time, Bradley was still finding his artistic voice—this piece predates by several years the elaborate Art Nouveau posters that would make him the highest-paid American artist of the early 20th century. The subject of field flowers suggests Bradley's interest in natural forms and decorative design, themes that would flourish throughout his career.

The zincograph process, a lithographic technique using zinc plates, was perfect for the bold, flat areas of color that would become Bradley's signature style. While his mature work would draw heavily from Japanese block printing and the Arts and Crafts Movement—often being compared to Aubrey Beardsley's dramatic designs—this 1888 piece captures a more youthful, perhaps more tentative approach. Created before Bradley established his famous Wayside Press or began producing the two-dimensional poster designs that would revolutionize American graphic art, 'Field Flowers' offers a rare glimpse into the artist's formative years, showing us the foundation upon which his pioneering Art Nouveau aesthetic would be built.