Jazz Age Illustration

Jazz Age Illustration is the first major exhibition to survey the art of popular illustration in the United States between 1919 and 1942. This ambitious project draws from DelArt’s expansive illustration collection, with selective loans, to explore the mass visual culture that emerged at the end of the First World War—a period characterized by cultural vibrancy and dramatic social change. Jazz Age Illustration will include more than 100 works of art and dozens of publications by prominent artists, such as Aaron Douglas, John Held Jr., Neysa McMein, and Frank Schoonover.

Related Programs and Events:

Year of the Illustrator This exhibition launches our Year of the Illustrator. View more related events and programs.

Flappers & Fedordas: A Jazz Age Gala The Museum’s Board of Trustees and Executive Director Molly Giordano cordially invite you to an unforgettable fundraiser celebrating Jazz Age Illustration, where you’ll be transported to the iconic Jazz Age with era-inspired food, drink, music, and dancing. Learn more.

Jazz Around Town When you’re in the Museum’s neighborhood, keep your eyes open for Jazz Around Town, striking murals highlighting works from Jazz Age Illustration. This project is a recipient of an AARP Community Challenge grant and is supported through the Office of Wilmington City Councilman Nathan Field. On view Fall 2024 through Spring 2025. Learn more.

Jazz Series hosted by Raye Jones Avery This series will feature jazz performances to complement the Jazz Age Illustration exhibition, featuring an artist chat led by Raye Jones Avery. View performance dates and lineup.

Cover for The Saturday Evening Post, October 2, 1920. C. Coles Phillips (1880–1927). Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on illustration board, 20 × 16 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 1988.

Etta Moten Barnett Dancing, c. 1940, for American Negro Exposition, 1940. Jay Jackson (1905–1954). Watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper, sheet: 12 5/8 × 9 5/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 2022. © Estate of Jay Paul Jackson.

Cover for Vogue, December 15, 1922. Helen Dryden (1882–1981). Gouache, ink, and watercolor on paper, sheet: 19 × 15 1/2 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 1991.

Cover for Vanity Fair, March 1923. Nicholas Remisoff (1887–1975). Gouache and black paper on illustration board, sheet: 14 1/2 × 10 7/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 1991.

Girls I Adore, 1934, Illustration for "Girls I Adore" by McClelland Barclay with text by Alice-Leone Moats, syndicated nationally by King Features. Appeared in Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 1934. McClelland Barclay (1891–1943). Charcoal on illustration board, composition: 31 9/16 × 25 7/8 inches, sheet: 33 1/8 × 28 inches. Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 1992. © Artist or Publisher.

Poster for the American Negro Exposition, 1940. Robert S. Pious (1908–1983). Screen print, composition: 20 3/4 × 12 1/2 inches, sheet: 21 5/16 × 13 1/2 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquired through the gift of Norman P. Rood, 2019. © Estate of Robert S. Pious.

The Admirable Hostess, 1921. Advertisement for Wallace Silver, published in The Saturday Evening Post, January 8, 1921. Neysa Moran McMein (1888–1949). Pastel on board, 30 1/8 × 28 5/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 2022. © Estate of Neysa Moran McMein.

I'm Dyin', Egypt, Dyin', 1927. Cover for Liberty Magazine, April 23, 1927. Leslie Thrasher (1889–1936). Oil on canvas, 20 × 16 1/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Audrey Thrasher de Russow, 1973. © Liberty Library Corporation.

Dust Jacket, from The Door of the Double Dragon, a Romance of the China of Yesterday and To-Day, by Hector Blanding (New York: W.J. Watt and Co., 1920). George William Gage (1887–1957). Oil on canvas, 29 1/4 × 19 5/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Louisa du Pont Copeland Memorial Fund, 1977.

Then we went to the Silver Slipper, 1931. Illustration for The Flesh is Weak, by John Held, Jr. (New York: Vanguard Press, 1931). John Held, Jr. (1889–1958). Ink on illustration board, sheet: 15 × 10 3/4 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 1986. © Estate of John Held, Jr.

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Organizers & Sponsors

Jazz Age Illustration is made possible through support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, the Richard C. Von Hess Foundation, the Rock Oak Foundation, in memory of Thomas Brokaw, the Roger and Sarah Bancroft Clark Foundation, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, PNC Arts Alive, M&T Charitable Foundation, the Hallie Tybout Exhibition Fund, and the Thronson Foundation Illustration Exhibition Fund. This exhibition is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.