Munsey's Magazine, March 1895

This March 1895 issue of Munsey's Magazine contains primarily illustrated art commentary rather than fiction. "Artists and Their Work" surveys contemporary American and European painting, beginning with analysis of Chicago's emerging artistic development following the World's Fair, noting Western artists' stylistic dependence on European training (citing Frank C. Peyvraud's Parisian style and Elbridge Burbank's German Munich influences). The section discusses poster art as a current artistic fad, tracing its lineage through Aubrey Beardsley and Jules Cheret to Japanese sources, crediting designers Edward Penfield and Will Bradley. Coverage of deceased landscape painter George Inness notes his prolific output—250 finished works left in his studio—but depressed auction prices. A biographical account describes deaf-mute artist Sarah Adams, whose clay modeling apprenticeship under Augustus St. Gaudens led to successful teaching before her death from pneumonia at twenty-three. The issue also features cartoonist John Tenniel's decades-long Punch career, and reports Boston's Museum of Fine Arts receiving a fifty-thousand-dollar legacy for modern paintings. Numerous engravings of European paintings accompany the text. A separate profile by Frank A. Munsey examines Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia, emphasizing his self-made success, congressional service, and Secretary of War tenure.