Albert Wenzell's Illustrations

Albert Beck Wenzell (1864-1917) was an American illustrator who captured the personalities, gestures, and costumes of high  society. 

His black and white illustrations were frequently painted in gouache with a big, pointed brush on a warm-toned board.

He also painted in oil in full color, once color reproduction became an option.

Born in Detroit, he studied in Munich and Paris. He was best known for his fashionable scenes from high society.

"A Showdown" by Albert Beck Wenzell, oil on canvas, 1895

Historian Walt Reed said: "If his preoccupation with the rendering of the sheen of a silk dress or a starched shirt sometimes competes with the message of his pictures, he did, nevertheless, leave us an historic record of the settings and costumes of fashionable society at the turn of the century and set a high artistic standard."

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You can read about Wenzell in Walt Reed's book The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000. 

In Vanity Fair is a contemporary book-length collection of his work.

Wenzell is another major illustrator with no Wikipedia page, so I hope one of you will do something about that.