The Ault & Wiborg Company - Art nouveau public domain poster

Born in Boston in 1868, William Henry Bradley was an American Art Nouveau illustrator and artist. Largely self-taught as an artist, he began working in a printer’s shop at the age of twelve. Like many French artists of that time, he borrowed stylistic elements from Japanese prints, working in flat, broad color planes and cropped forms. Bradley embraced the Art Nouveau movement and was influenced by the work of the English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. His 1894 design for Chicago's Chap-Book magazine, titled The Twins, has been called the first American Art Nouveau poster. Nicknamed the "Dean of American Designers" by The Saturday Evening Post, he was the highest-paid American artist of the early 20th century.