Notable Poster Artists & Illustrators, “E...-F...-”
for classrooms, homeschoolers, and decor.

Mary Ellen Edwards
b. 11-6-1838; Surbiton, England
d. 12-22-1936

Mary Ellen Edwards was one of the most prolific and popular illustrators of Victorian magazines, books, and greeting cards. She also placed in the Royal Academy with the oil painting “The Last Kiss” in 1865 and then almost every year through 1908.

Edwards, who signed her work M.E.E., came from a talented family and attended several different art schools. She also worked with a group of friends to improve her technique, and was married John Staples, an illustrator of children's books, with whom she collaborated.

FYI - Edwards illustrated Anthony Trollope's novel, The Claverings.

• Painting Women: Victorian Women Artists
• more birds posters

Georg Dionysius Ehret
b. 1-30-1708; Germany
d. 9-9-1770

Botanist and entomologist Georg Dionysius Ehret is best known for his botanical illustrations.

The genus Ehretia, flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae, was named in his honor.

Erté (née Romain de Tirtoff)
b. 11-23-1892; Russia
d. 4-21-1990; Paris

Romain de Tirtoff is better known by the French pronounciation of his initials, R.T., the pseudonym he adopted to “avoid disgracing” his distinguished family. His distinctive work includes illustrations for Harper's Bazaar and elaborate stage and movie costumes, which influenced the art and fashion world in the Art Deco (decorative) movement of the 1920s and 30s. Erté also re-created his legendary works in bronze and serigraphy, working into his 70s.

M. C. Escher
b. 6-17-1898; Leeuwarden, Netherlands
d. 3-27-1972; Laren

Artist and mathematician Maurits Cornelis Escher is best known for his impossible contructions of spatial illusions and geometric patterns (tesselations) that were reproduced as woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints.

• more M. C. Escher posters

Jim Fitzpatrick

The iconic image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was the inspiration of Jim Fitzpatrick who “posterized” the photograph of Guevara by Alberto Korda. The photograph was taken March 5, 1960 at a Havana Cuba memorial service. It is said it is the most reproduced image in photography.

• Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image

James Montgomery Flagg
b. 6-18-1877; Pelham Manor, NY
d. 5-27-1960; NYC

Artist and illustrator James Montgomery Flagg is best remembered for his propaganda posters.

FYI - Flagg said he used his own face as the model for Uncle Sam because it was more convenient than arranging for a model.

• World War I posters

Henry Justice Ford
b. 1860; London
d. 1941

Henry Justice Ford is mostly associated with illustrating Andrew Lang's collection of twelve fairy tales. Ford also illustrated Pilgrim's Progress, the Arabian Nights, and painted historical subjects.