Herman Eggeling (1884–1932)

A Peanut Plant—soil removed to show some of its ripe fruit
ca. 1910
Gouache on paper
6” x 8 ¾”, 9” x 11 ¾” framed

Herman Eggeling was as a Brooklyn-born painter and commercial illustrator who spent most of his life living and working in New York City, primarily in Brooklyn and the Bronx. He studied at the Art Students’ League. sudying under George Bridgman and John Sloan. Eggeling belonged to the Bronx Artist’s Guild and served on the organization’s Executive Committee during the 1920s. In 1922 he exhibited several paintings with the Guild, including works titled “Backyard in Summer”, “Marshes”, “Gathering Clouds” and “Along The Harlem.”  In a March 1923 New York Times exhibit review, the critic notes that “Herman Eggeling seems to stand out rather from the rest of the group. [He] is a very young painter [and] does some notable designing, especially in a [work] called “Along the Harlem.”

Among the most profound and impactful works produced by Herman Eggeling during his lifetime were a series of illustrations created for the editor and publisher, Artemas Ward (1848-1925), for his groundbreaking Encyclopedia of Food (1923) and earlier Grocer’s Encyclopedia (1911). Eggeling was responsible for the majority of the original watercolor and gouache images that were used to create the 71 color photolithographic plates within the publication.

In the preface to his Encyclopedia of Food, writer and publisher Artemas Ward gave credit to Mr. Herman Eggeling for the colored illustrations Ward deemed “perfect copies of their subjects.”

Jeffrey Tillou Antiques is pleased to offer a selection of original pen and ink, watercolor and gouache colored illustrations created especially for the production of Artemas Ward’s Grocer’s Encyclopedia (1911) and later Encyclopedia of Food (1923).

The second image shows an example of the colored photolithographic print as found in The Encyclopedia of Food, 1923.