Puck Christmas
Harrison Fisher · 1898
- Artist
- Harrison Fisher (1875–1934)
- Published
- Puck, 14 December 1898
- Medium
- Chromolithograph
- Reuse
- Public domain in the US
Puck, vol. XLIV no. 1136, New York, 14 December 1898Source record & reuse status
A Christmas cover for Puck magazine, drawn by Harrison Fisher in 1898 and printed in chromolithograph. A woman in a yellow gown, long gloves and a black fur stole sits in profile watching a child pose on a stool for a cartoonist at an easel. It is the oldest work in this collection and the clearest starting point for pin-up: the picture is a magazine cover first, an image of a woman second.
What is happening in the picture
The scene is an interior with an eastern flavour: patterned hangings, columns, a low divan and a carpet. On the left a child in a pink sash and blue coat stands on a stool, one arm raised, while a small cartoonist climbs the tripod easel to draw him. On the right a woman sits on a cushioned ottoman, holding lorgnette, turned toward the child. The word CHRISTMAS runs along the front of the ottoman and PUCK fills the top of the page.
Fisher signed and dated the plate at the lower left, “Fisher ’98”. The issue line at the top reads Puck Building, New York, December 14th, 1898, above volume XLIV, number 1136 and a price of 25 cents.
Why this cover belongs to the history of pin-up
Harrison Fisher (1875–1934) drew the American cover girl before the word pin-up was in common use, and he was paid for it by the week. The Library of Congress copy carries the copyright stamps of 7 December 1898 — “Two Copies Received” and “2nd Copy Delivered to the Periodical Dept” — which is also why the scan shows the printed page inside its bound volume rather than as a clean plate.
Look at how the woman is drawn. She is not the joke; the child and the cartoonist are. Fisher gives her the calmest part of the composition and lets her look sideways, which is the same move his later cover girls make: the picture is about a woman being looked at, and she knows it.
