J.E.H. MacDonald, Designer 9780773595910

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J.E.H. MacDONALD Designer

An Anthology of Graphic Design, Illustration and Lettering

Robert Stacey with research by Hunter Bishop

Archives of Canadian Art an imprint of Carleton University Press

All right:. rCM.'T\·~d. Nil pari of thl' pllhln.:;ll1on may h~ rcp nxillcl'ti. ~tof\.'l. 1 1Il a rClri~\'a l system . or tratNllill l'(l in any (onn or hy any tn~llh, ~k'Clronic, mcchanical. phOlocopying. or recording. wiThout the cun~nt of the Archl\· ...-:. of Cmadian An. R'lhcri St;!cey. llr the estate of Hllnter 13.,hllp.

Canadian C unlogui ng in Puhlicatiun

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Stacey. Roh.:n. 19-t9j.E-H. ~lacDonald. lk.... lgner : an anthology of graphic de,ign. Illu:.tr.!T;on and lenering Include:. h i bli~rmphical n.:fcn.:ncc,.

ISBN 0·88629·304·9 I. MncDon:lld. j.E.H, (James Edward HeT\'ey), 1873- 1932. I. Archi ves 0( Canmlian An. I!. 11l1e.

NCI43.M314S83 1996 741.6'092 (,'96·900490·7 Archiws (If Cmad.,m An An imprint ofC:.ri...'ton Ulll vcrsity

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Dt!sign: PIIOIO,l,rra/xlY: PriJ1/L'l':

13i,Ill'l';

Press

Margaret Keith. jennlc Stnckland Glenn McArthur, Timlllttl Tl1()mas E. Moore Phutugr:lph y Inc.; Roben Sl'acey; the va riolls insrintrions in pos.ses:.illn (If original Mac Don:lld artwnrb; or as m heT\\'ise credited in the captions Ampersand Printing. Guelph ~\'I artin':. &:xlkhinding. EtohiCl)ke

Frol1l COtic'f; j.E. H . ~vl acDllna ld . \ 'icwry )~'(rr.

1919 (poster and cat,.luJ..'lLe cover); CWlltda and Ute Call, 19/4 (cxhLhitum lXl:>ter); The Laml's. (dl'raLl) n.:cemlx·r 19 11 (hand-lettered 1ll,lga: LLle wlc); T~ Red CanOl!. 1931 (O,rbtma... card): Tl)Or('au MacDonald, lerrerl wad 11)j.!\l desi~>TI for J.E.H. MacDona ld. c. 1922-24. Front (lJ1d IXlCk fl)·/.>af: repnxlucl'l.l (mm A \\'ford to Us AU. 1900 (pre1>Cnt \\"Iu:rcahout:; of original aT\wllrk unknuwJl) . Frolllisr';"co!; photograph oi j.E.I-I. Macl1.ma ld hy M.O . Hammo nd. 1927: M.O. 1lammond Pitpcn-. Arch ivc1> of O nt ;!ril,. /)t!,lic'lIi{J11I)(I~e: (rom

front

COWl',

Alan Sulli\·;m. 1 Beliet'e Thllf ... (Toronto. 1912).

/niruLI 1•.'I!~'Ts, tignl'l!t's lind rail/)it!co!s: all hr j.E.1 \. MacDonald. (rll11l mlbth'lbting from the l'erio,11 91()"'-2Q,.

\';mlllb

puhlbhed and unpuhIL~Ill'd ")ILTt:e~.

Bock dusr-jackl!l: j .E. H . }..Iacl)onal..l and j,),11\ ~lacDonakl . TlmrnhL Il. O nt,lrLt). c. 19105-20::;. photographer unk nown (Tlmreau Mad'\lIlald!). I hlLlter AL,hllp Papers; sunl1uwer de~ .gn (maga:me endpiccd. 192(}... C .rleilln U nh'ersit y Pre:,.:, gT':ltcfully acknllwlcdgl'l> Ihe suppo rt extemk·,1 10 it:. publishing progr:Ull hy dw C am!da e mncil and rhe financial a"j't.IIlt.:l' 1'( Ihe Ontitrio Art:. G)(mcil. Tl,c Pre:.s \\'ould abo like til thank the Deparrmc nt o(Canadian Ilerit '!ge. GIl\'ernment ufCmada. and Lhe Gm'erlllllenr ofOn... rio thrllugh ,he MiniM!)' o( Culture, Ti)uri-lli ;lnd R ecr~; u ion. fm rheir assist,l1)ce.

CONTENTS Abbreviations

vii

Foreword Dr. Michael Large

ix

Preface Robert Stacey

xi

Acknowledgements "No Ordinary Life" Thoreau MacDonald and Hunter Bishop on J.E.H. MacDonald

xxi

1

An Anthology of Illustration, Lettering, and Graphic Design Colour Plates : Design for Commerce

15 41

II : Design for Culture

51

III: Illustration

57

IV: Lettering

85

V : Bookplates

97

VI: Designs for the Arts and Letters Club

105

Chronology

115

Selected References

126

This book is dedicated

to

the memories

of J.E.H. MacDona ld Thoreau MacDonald and Hunter Bishop.

ABBREVIATIONS AAM: Art Association of Montreal AGO: Art Gallery of Ontario AGT: Art Gallery of Toronto ALC: Arts and Letters Club, Toronto AMT: Art Museum of Toronto (renamed Art Gallery of Toronto, 1920) AO: Archives of Ontario, Toronto BIIA: British Institute of Industrial Art, London CGR: Canadian Government Railway, Moncton, New Brunswick CNE: Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto CNR: Canadian National Railway, Montreal CNS: Canadian Northern Steamships, Montreal COSAD: Central Ontario School of Art and Design, Toronto CPR: Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal CSAA: Canadian Society of Applied Art CSGA: Canadian Society of Graphic Arts CSPWC: Canadian SOciety of Painters in Water Colours CTA: City of Toronto Archives DLBSC: Dovercourt Land, Building & Savings Co., Toronto OM: Design Museum, Butler's Wharf, London, England EPTRL: E.P. Taylor Reference Library, Art Gallery of Ontario ITc: Fred Turner collection, Toronto GAC: Graphic Arts Club Grip P. & P.: Grip Printing and Publishing Ltd., Toronto G7: Group of Seven HA,Cc: Hugh Anson,Cartwright collection, Toronto HBP: Hunter Bishop Papers, Toronto HH: Hart House, University of Toronto JM: J .E.H. MacDonald JEHMf: J.E.H. MacDonald fonds, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa LKc: Leon Katz collection, Toronto McMCAC: McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario McMCC, MP: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, MacDonald Papers M&S: McClelland & Stewart Ltd., Toronto MSc: Dr. J. Murray Speirs collection, Pickering, Ontario MTRL: Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library NDc: Nancy Dillow collection, Willowdale, Ontario NGC: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa NTC: National Trust Co., Toronto OAA: Ontario Association of Architects, Toronto OC: Osborne Collection, Toronto Public Library OCA: Ontario College of Art, Toronto OSA: Ontario Society of Artists RAIC: Royal Architectural Institute of Canada RCA: Royal Canadian Academy of Arts RHc: Richard Howard collection, Toronto RL: MacLennan,Redpath Library, McGill University, Montreal ROM: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto RSc: Robert Stacey collection, Toronto SCP·E: Society of Canadian Painter,Etchers SCS: The Shaw Correspondence School, Toronto SNL: Sheriuan Nurseries Ltu., ummto TAL: Toronto Art League (formerly, Toronto Art Students' League) TASL: Toronto Art Stuuents' League (became Toronto Art League, 1898) TFRBL: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto TGH: Toronto General Hospital TM: Thoreau MacDonalu TMP: Thoreau MacDonald Papers, E.R. Hunter Collection, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library TPL: Toronto Public Library U. ofT.: University ofu)ronto UTA: University of Toronto Archives VAG: Vancouver Art Gallery VSAD: Victoria School of Art and Design, Halifax WCC: William Colgate Collection, MacLennan, Redpath Library WCP: William Colgate Papers, Archives of Ontario

-

Fig. A.1. J.E.H. MacDonald in his studio,

c. 1910s; HBP.

FOREWORD t is perhaps inevitable that the design work of J. E.H. MacDoml ld has a lways been overshad-

I

owed by his painting, but it should not be ignored. Not onl y was graph ic design of central importa nce to his career, but in other coun tries,

where the role of graphic design in visual culture is more clearl y recogni zed than in Canada, his stature as a designe r wo uld have lo ng been

acknowledged in monographs and ex hibitions. In fact, the career of J.E.H. MacDonald is inseparable from the development of the graphic design industry in Toronto from the 1890s to the 1930s. MacDona ld's graphic design background was typ ical of many of his colleagues in the Toronto Art S tudents' League and later the G roup of Seven; he began as a lithographic app rentice and then worked for G rip Printing and Publishing in Toronto, and at Carlton Studio in London, then aga in at G ri p Ltd. when it was the seedbed of this country's most important national art movement. The

Group is justl y famous for being the first generation of Canadian artists to see Canada without European pictorial baggage, but it was also among the first to

benefit from the growing printing and publishing ind ustries in Toronto. The increasing need for illustration and design gave MacDonald and his friend s a livelihood, a stimulus to develop their ski lls, and the support and fellowshi p of one another. They also benefited from the introduct ion of photographic reproduction technologies in the closing years of the nineteenth century. The resul ting opportun ities to draw and paint images for direct reproduction , without reinte rpre tatio n

by

e ngravers o r lithographe rs, gave artists unprecedented c re~

ative freedo m to deve lop their own styles, resulting in a "golden age" of book and magazine illustration. The pattern of deve lopment of visual production in Canada ca n be seen as the reverse of the Europea n situation, where a dominant

fine-art cul tu re preceded graphic design; the first visual art credited with bei ng uniquely Canadian grew out of the critica l mass of creative skills required by the needs of industry. MacDonald was not uncomfortable with th is close relationship of art, printing-trade skills and commerce. He refl ected the do minant influences in Ca nad ian design of the period: the stylistic feat ures and idea ls of the Arts and Crafts movement and the professiona l practices of the United States {links with New York were strong, and several To ro nto designe rs were attracted the re

IEII

J. E. H. MacDonald: Designer

by greater opportunities than could be found at home}. William Morris's revival of interest in fine printing and book design, marrying craftsmanship with high standards of typography and decorative illustration, was massively influential in North America and had a lasting impact on MacDonald, who interpreted Arts and Crafts decorative principles with Canadian motifs. However, like the Americans, he and his colleagues embraced new methods of working and were not uncritical acolytes. They re,exported back to Britain an elegant yet functional interpretation of their own, more suited to the needs of mass visual culture, and with it the mod, ern concept of the design studio. Carlton Studio, founded by MacDonald's col, leagues from the Toronto Art Students' League and Grip, introduced what Carlton's Canadian,bom business manager, William Wallace, termed "an intel, ligent harmony of various specialisations," thus replacing the individual artisan with a more systematic division of labour and becoming, in the process, very suc, cessful commercially. It is interesting that, now, the introduction of digital tech, nology is reversing the trend toward specialization caused by the first industrial revolution, re,uniting disparate crafts such as typesetting, illustration and layout in the designer's hands. The significance of the ease with which MacDonald and many other major Canadian artists moved between the worlds of fine and commercial art is not generally understood. The bias of traditional art history and the scantiness of the records have not helped. MacDonald was at home in the continuous spectrum of visual production found in industrial societies, a place widely inhabited but still unevenly mapped. Graphic design and fine art must be seen as integral aspects of social, economic and political processes at the heart of our culture. Therefore there is a real need for publishing documents in the area of Canadian design history. Since the second half of the 1980s, the cultural impor, tance of design has been explored by a flood of publishing in Europe, the United States and Japan. This led not only to the recognition of design as a subject for serious study, but also to a radical reframing of the scope and quality of design discourse in general, to the benefit of design practice. The sharp increase in design publishing did not apply to Canada, however, where there is very little available of any scholarly merit, and design has a low profile (being regarded as an activity which takes place elsewhere). Books such as J.E.H. MacDonald: Designer should be encouraged, as they will help to correct this misconception, raise general awareness of design as part of Canadian visual culture, and grant students access to their heritage. Dr. Michael Large, Coordinator, Graphic Design Program, Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario

-

PREFACE ublished seventy-fi ve years afte r the formation of the Group of Seven in 1920, and on the eve of the 125th anniversary of the birth of J.E. I-I. MacDona ld (fig. A.I) near Durham, England in 1872 (but also on the cente nary of the death of his hero, William Morris, in 1896 ), this book is a pictorial ce lebration of an astonishingly di verse anises first bu t too;often forgotten ca ll ings:

graphic design, illustrat ion, lette ring, applied art in both its narrowest and widest interpretations. Of necessity, in

these pages we cannot begi n to do justice to MacDonald 's myriad contri butions to all the other popular and public media and formats in wh ich he worked, such as mural decoration, mosa ics and oth er forms of "art for arch itec;

ture '" no r to his wr iting and lectures o n typography and th e decora tive arts, nor aga in to his teach ing career,

wh ich was large ly confined to the interrelated subj ects of lettering, book illustration, (mel "commercia l design."

The se lection of images showcased here is an introductory sampling of some of the best of the productions by which MacDonald made his li ving for the bette r part of his fo ur-decade working life. To stay within prescri bed limits of length re.CCll ted a N E.\V COMEDY ci, II 'd~

The BEGGARS OPERA.. OR

VI:19 . Decorations for ~A rt ists' Jamboree,~ Great Hall, ALC, 4 April 1925. Photo by M .O. Hammond; Scrapbook. ALC. VI:20. Masthead , Hotairian Blast (24 April

1926), relief printing; Scrapbook. ALC. VI :21 . luncheon stamps, April 1926. relief printing; Scrapbook, ALC. VI:22. Christmas decorations and stage set, Great Hall, ALC, Dec. 1926. Photo by M.O. Ham mond; Scrapbook, ALC. VI:18

VI:23. Oyez, Oyez, Oyez, n.d. (c. 1928), pen-and-colou red ink on card; Scrapbook,

ALe. VI:24. Broadside program , Complimentary Dinner to George A. Reid. R.C.A .. O.S.A. , 13 May 1929. letterpress and relief printing; G.A. Reid Scrapbook, EPTRl. VI:17

VI: 19

VI : Designs for the Arts and Letters Club

BLAST VI:20

VI:23

VI:21

Compli me n tary D i nn e r G eo rge A. Re id , R.C. A., O.S.A. , •..J. .... ~ ..... " " " , _ . " ... _ _ -... • .; ••

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