Description
Vanity Fair Rugby Sport Advertisement. Provenance: This Spy collection was at one time displayed on the coveted walls of Nordstrom Freehold Raceway Mall, NJ. Read on... "Men of the Day" series five additional Spy Prints are available in my shop~ Appeared in Vanity fair the week of Jan 2, 1892 Caricaturist Henry Charles Seppings Wright Signed Stuff (pseudonym for Henry Charles) Portrait of Mr. Edward Temple Gurdon (1854-1929) often known as Temple Gurdon, was a rugby union international who represented England from 1878 to 1886. He also captained his country & was a professional rugby player Hand colored lithograph Top left reads: Vanity Fair Bottom left reads: Vincent Brooks, Day & Son Ltd. Lith (founded in 1867, were widely known for reproducing the weekly caricatures published in Vanity Fair magazine, defunct 1940) Bottom center reads: "Rugby Union" Professionally framed Burl wood veneer frame, brown/black Antique white matting with black bevel accent Frame H 25" (in.) W 17.5" (in.) The hanging hardware is missing the wire The Art is in mint condition The frame is in equally excellent condition The dust cover has been ripped off, seems it was displayed somewhere prominent & the info of where has been removed/ripped off. From what I gather, it was displayed at Nordstrom's, Freehold, NJ. (Freehold Raceway Mall) which closed down in March 2020. I have six more of these, they all came from the same place, they all have the bottom of the dust cover ripped off. This entire "Spy" collection at one time was displayed on the esteemed walls of Nordstrom store #522 in the Freehold, NJ location. Specifically, the Men's sportswear department. I found 1/5 where the dust cover was mostly intact. Turns out this series came from an art gallery in Washington purchased specifically for interior design for Nordstrom. Wow! Pretty cool. I called the number on the dust cover & researched the art gallery; seems they went out of business. Vanity Fair magazine was published weekly from 1868 to 1914 to humorously expose the Victorian society & their vanities. One of its most popular features were the caricature drawings of famous figures called Men of the Day. The Vanity Fair caricatures have become widely known as "Spy" prints due to the 1325 caricatures drawn by Sir Leslie Ward, who was a fixture at Vanity Fair for over 40 years. My shop has seven of the Spy series~ Thank you for perusing balconybeauty~ ~Spread love~ Antique Vanity Fair Spy Print Lithograph Rugby Union Caricature Of Edward Temple Gurdon, Men in Sports Framed Authentic Artwork
