International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

John Hassall



DESIGN FOR A POSTER

BY JOHN HASSALL

the eyes of his public. We
should be glad to help him
in tbis matter, though in
tbis article we are con-
cerned with his posters, his
pictures, and his illustra-
tions.
It has often been rather
difficult for a humorist to
get his art taken seriously
for its own sake, but we
don’t think this can be said
to be so in Mr. Hassall’s
case ; be has too many
-.qualities besides that of
humour. With his humour
and vivacity he struck the
friendship with the Man in
the Street, upon which the
advertiser who commands
his art depends. With the
by john hassall qualities of draughtsman-
ship in his line and his in-
stinct for decorative composition he raised him-
self to high estimation with his fellow-artists.
And it is a criticism or his art as such, apart

DESIGN FOR A POSTER

for these pictures; though in many cases it would
seem people must be clinging to their homes solely
because their Windows command a view of another
hoarding. There are places
where one cannot conceive
of people staying for any
other reason. Often, in the
accidental beautyincidental
to the advertisement, golden
laws of colour and form are
hinted at in Streets where
every kind of beauty seems
forbidden, where a legend
has always seemed to pre-
vailwith the builders agamst
that thing called beauty,
which none of tbem have

seen.
Mr. Hassall has made so
many successful posters
that in this department he
is a kind of king, though of
late painting, with its wider
field, has been beckoning
him. He himself is half
afraid that the reputation he
has made with posters will,
like the very hoardings he
has embellished, rise up
between a more delicate
manifestation of his art and

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