Art Nouveau Developer: William Bradley

An American self-taught illustrator and artist influenced by Aubrey Beardsley and William Morris. He started working in a printer’s shop which helped him in producing advertisements; layout, typesetting and more.

He became a typographic designer and started working as a wood engraver and typographer. After a while he considered himself freelance graphic designer, started designing many typefaces, such as; Wayside Roman, Missal Initialas, Bewick Roman or Vanity Initials.

The difference between one typeface and another is often very subtle; may be a slight difference in the shape of the serif. But regardless of how small the difference, the typeface, and therefore the appearance of the printed page, will be affected. Nowadays typefaces are rather underestimated.

The Twins design for Chapbook made Bradley a recognized and popular illustrator.

The ChapBook - Will Bradley, 1894

A stylistic design inspired from Japanese woodblock prints. Bradley’s influence from Morris shows from the typography and floral motifs. A repetitive form of human being one considerably bigger than the other. His works are flat with bold colours, very lightly outlined with whiplash curves.

References:

• David Britt, 2010. Modern Art: Impressionism to Post-Modernism. London. Thames & Hudson.
• Kaplan, W.2004.THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN EUROPE AND AMERICA: DESIGN FOR THE MODERN WORLD. London: Thames & Hudson.
• Will H. Bradley / American Art. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=547. [Accessed October 2013].