“Beauty’s Charms” by Beatrice Tonnesen

Lowell Limited, publisher of The Secret Source – Beatrice Tonnesen and the Calendar Art of The Golden Age of Illustration, and this site, is preparing a series of numbered Giclée reproductions of selected rare works attributable to Beatrice Tonnesen. Paper will be Epson Ultra­Smooth Fine Art Paper with Epson Ultra­Chrome K3 inks. Sizing will generally be 19 inches by 13 inches. Pricing will start at $150 plus shipping. The first image in preparation is the accompanying “Beauty's Charms”.

From the caption below the image:

“Beauty's Charms” was found on an advertising calendar dated 1919 for The Best Mfg. Co., New Haven, Conn. It can be identified as the work of famed artist/photographer Beatrice Tonnesen (1871 – 1958), a major contributor of calendar art from about 1900 – 1930, during the Golden Age of Illustration. The dress and the model are seen in other works contained in archives of Tonnesen's work, and this image is shown hanging in Tonnesen's Chicago studio in a photo dated 1920. – Lois Emerson

Additional Beatrice Tonnesen images and information are available at https://www.beatricetonnesenart.com. Lois Emerson is author and Sumner Nelson illustrator of The Secret Source: The Calendar Art of Beatrice Tonnesen in the Golden Age of Illustration.

Printed to archival standards on Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper with Epson UltraChrome K3 inks.

This print is numbered __(Sequential)__, and was printed on: ___(Current Date)___, by ____(Sumner L. Nelson signature) ______.

The Secret Source – Beatrice Tonnesen and the Calendar Art of The Golden Age of Illustration

This Amazon Kindle format book is authored by Lois Emerson, with 135 photos and images of vintage calendar art restored for publication by Sumner Nelson. It’s currently available only in Kindle format on the Amazon store. There is a Kindle app for Windows and Mac computers, and all mobile devices. The Secret Source – Beatrice Tonnesen and the Calendar Art of The Golden Age of Illustration.

From the Introduction by Lois:

If you are a collector of those popular art prints that graced calendars and advertising items in the early 1900's, chances are you own prints by Beatrice Tonnesen (1871-1958). And you may not even know it!

That's because a signed Tonnesen is a relative rarity. Beatrice Tonnesen, an artist-photographer based in Chicago from about 1896-1930, was the artistic genius behind many of the most popular art prints of the era. Though she did, occasionally, paint from her own photos and sign the finished artwork, this was not her usual practice. Most often, her original photos were purchased by calendar publishers or advertisers, copyrighted, tinted, colored or otherwise enhanced, then published without Tonnesen's signature, or any type of acknowledgment of her work.

Even more surprisingly, some of her photographs formed the basis for art prints painted and signed by other highly successful artists of the day! Calendar artists R. Atkinson Fox (1860-1935) and Homer Nelson (dates not found) are known to have painted from her work, and other, lesser known signatures appear on popular prints that originated as photos by Tonnesen.
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There are currently 474 images in 21 albums contained in the Beatrice Tonnesen catalog. Most of them are attributable to Beatrice Tonnesen, some are questionable, and a few are for reference. Almost the entire catalog is ©Lowell Limited, LLC and available under terms of licensing.

We published a Wikipedia entry for Beatrice Tonnesen.

In an online commentary related to its March 11th print edition, the Chicago Magazine Blog “312” published a new short article about BT which has been added to the left hand column of permanent links.