L. Prang and Co’s Holiday Publications c. 1890 - 1896

Curator: Gosh, it’s… it's just so purple! I mean, the instant you look at it, that dreamy lilac hue just washes over everything, doesn't it? Sort of intoxicating, like a vintage sweet. Editor: Intoxicating, yes, perhaps deliberately so. We’re looking at “L. Prang and Co.’s Holiday Publications,” a promotional poster likely from the early 1890s. Its designer, Louis Rhead, captured that burgeoning Art Nouveau spirit. The Victorians loved anything allegorical—I wonder, what’s your interpretation of it? Curator: I'm just tripping over that dress, to be honest. I want it in my wardrobe right now. All those little, stylized leaves look so comfy to wear. I suppose the woman herself...she’s the muse of holiday publishing! Is that a mistletoe pattern, do you think? Editor: Certainly holly is present, in the background trailing. It's potent symbolism! Holly and mistletoe both held pagan associations of fertility, protection, rebirth during winter festivals...Prang was canny, using pre-Christian echoes to give depth and tradition to the nascent industry of commercial Christmas cards. Curator: It’s like she's half wood-nymph, half advertising exec, right? All those clean lines and yet those wild tendrils of hair. It's so romantic, the tension between the two is fabulous! She’s literally got the best of both worlds going on. Editor: Consider also what’s in her hands. With one, a quill pauses above a blank page, a source of inspiration for future holiday verse. With the other, she presents a finished example...it signifies Prang's ability to manage the creative vision with the realities of mass production and salesmanship. See how much that says? Curator: You've spoiled the frock for me now. Now I only see the calculated messaging. And it looked so pretty! Editor: Though that aesthetic intention doesn’t render her frock meaningless, does it? Rhead deliberately used what we find charming to convey layered cultural messages that remain surprisingly clear! Curator: True. Even in lilac, the revolution is marketed beautifully.