Page:Some examples of the work of American designers.djvu/45

 CHARLES B. FALLS

HE art of Charles B. Falls is brilliant and solid, like his conversation, if a personal remark maybe permitted at this point. The initial on this page, made specially for this book, and our reduction of the eight-sheet poster of Bert Williams are admirable illustrations of these very desirable qualities, often opposed to each other but here blended in one man's work. The Bert Williams, though made some time ago, remains one of the best posters ever done in this country. It is of extraordinary carrying power and absolutely characteristic of his subject. This commercial design, made for use in New York City for a week or two, is a complete portrait of Mr. Williams. Note the loose-jointed pose, the gleam of his eye and the careful placing of his feet, which must be fixed just so before he can begin his far from lyric song. Mr. Falls, although born in Indiana, has been an inspiration to many of our younger artists (see the biographical note on F. G. Cooper in this here book), and he is not so very old himself. He has a long list of customers. Everybody's, Collier's, System, Vogue and the Red Book; the Palace Theatre and the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York; Dodd, Mead*& Co. and the Edison Co., New York; Marshall Field & Co., and Sears, Roebuck & Co., Chicago; and N. W. Ayer & Son, Calkins & Holden, J. Walter Thompson, Berrien-Durstine, Frank Seaman and Street & Finney. Of recent years he has carried some of his ideas for costumes and backgrounds onto the stage, in several productions for the American Society of Illustrators.