Margaret Armstrong

1867-1944 American

Couvertures Art Nouveau et guides floraux

Margaret Neilson Armstrong was a 20th-century American designer, illustrator, and author. She is best known for her book covers in the Art Nouveau style. She also wrote and illustrated the first comprehensive guide to wildflowers of the American west, Field Book of Western Wild Flowers (1915). In later life she wrote mystery novels and biographies. Margaret Neilson Armstrong was born on September 24, 1867, in New York City, the daughter of American diplomat and stained glass artist Maitland Armstrong and his wife Helen, who was a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant and a niece of Hamilton Fish. Her six siblings included Helen Maitland Armstrong (1869–1948), who followed in her father's footsteps to become a stained glass artist, and Hamilton Fish Armstrong, a magazine editor. She began her career as a designer in the 1880s, working initially for A.C. McClurg and later for other publishers as well. She designed more than 270 book covers and book bindings, about half of which were for Scribner's. She worked in the Art Nouveau style and favored plant-related motifs, bold colors, gold stamping, and often slightly asymmetrical designs—an unusual combination that helped to distinguish her among her peers. Authors for whom she designed several covers include Frances Hodgson Burnett, Florence L. Barclay, George Washington Cable, Charles Dickens, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry van Dyke, and Myrtle Reed. She has been called "the most productive and accomplished American book designer of the 1890s and early 1900s", and her work is often compared to that of her contemporary Alice Cordelia Morse. Her monogram appears on many covers after 1895; it is a simple 'MA' in upper case with the 'M' slightly overlapping the 'A'. Armstrong a réduit la conception de couvertures de livres vers 1913, alors que les jaquettes commençaient à devenir à la mode, et s'est tournée vers l'écriture de ses propres livres. (Son style signature était cependant si réussi que les éditeurs ont ensuite engagé des artistes spécifiquement pour imiter son look.) Naturaliste passionnée, la passion d'Armstrong pour les formes naturelles reflétait son intérêt pour la botanique et, en particulier, pour les fleurs sauvages. Entre 1911 et 1914, elle a voyagé et campé à travers l'ouest des États-Unis et le Canada, devenant l'une des premières femmes à atteindre le fond du Grand Canyon. Elle y a découvert plusieurs espèces de fleurs qui n'avaient pas encore été identifiées par les botanistes. Elle détaille celles-ci et de nombreuses autres espèces dans son Field Book of Western Wild Flowers (1915). Avec ses 550 illustrations (dont 48 en couleur), son Field Book est considéré comme le premier guide complet sur le sujet. Dans la soixantaine et la septantaine, elle a écrit trois romans policiers salués par la critique—Murder in Stained Glass (1939), The Man with No Face (1940) et The Blue Santo Murder Mystery (1941)—ainsi que deux biographies, Fanny Kemble: A Passionate Victorian (1938) et Trelawny: A Man's Life (1940). Elle a également achevé les mémoires de son père. Elle est décédée à New York en 1944.