TL;DR — Penrhyn Stanlaws’ cover for Judge, the American humour magazine, comes from a Scottish-born illustrator who became one of the best-known creators of the American ‘magazine girl’ — the glamorous, fashionable young woman who sold periodicals at the turn of the century. Stanlaws’ confident, decorative covers sit at the meeting point of Art Nouveau and American commercial illustration. This is his story.
By Found Poster · Published September 2026
The poster and the magazine girl
By 1900 the American illustrated magazine had discovered that a pretty, fashionable young woman on the cover sold copies, and a handful of illustrators specialised in her. Charles Dana Gibson had the ‘Gibson Girl’; Penrhyn Stanlaws developed his own ‘Stanlaws Girl.’ The Judge cover shows the type: a stylish, self-possessed young woman rendered in clean line and flat, decorative colour, designed to catch the eye on a crowded newsstand.
Penrhyn Stanlaws, Dundee to New York
Penrhyn Stanlaws (1877–1957) was born Penrhyn Stanley Adamson in Dundee, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States, where he built a career as a magazine cover illustrator for titles including the Saturday Evening Post and Judge. His glamorous young women made him a household name in the 1900s and 1910s.
His was a remarkably varied life: he later moved to Hollywood and worked as a film director in the early 1920s before returning to painting. The magazine covers, though, are the work that fixed his name.
A decorative, fashionable line
Stanlaws’ style blends the decorative flatness of the poster era with the fashionable glamour of American commercial illustration — crisp outline, flattering line, and a confident sense of contemporary style. The four-season decorative panels he produced show the same elegance applied to pure ornament.
Where it belongs
Stanlaws’ glamorous, fashionable figures suit a salon, a boutique, or a dressing-room-styled bar — anywhere the mood is stylish and feminine. They carry a lighter, more Edwardian charm than the 1890s French posters, and they pair naturally with the American magazine work of Penfield, Bradley and Reed.
Stanlaws’ magazine covers and season panels are catalogued individually in our archive, restored for printing. Browse American Art Nouveau →
Frequently asked questions
Who was Penrhyn Stanlaws?
A Scottish-born (1877–1957) American magazine cover illustrator, creator of the glamorous ‘Stanlaws Girl,’ who later briefly directed films in Hollywood.
What is a ‘magazine girl’?
The fashionable young woman who became a stock cover subject for American magazines around 1900 — Gibson had the Gibson Girl, Stanlaws the Stanlaws Girl — designed to sell copies on the newsstand.
Where does he fit?
At the meeting of Art Nouveau decoration and American commercial illustration, alongside the magazine work of Penfield, Bradley and Ethel Reed.
Further reading
- Ethel Reed — the American magazine poster
- The masters of the American poster (scheduled in this series)
- David W. Kiehl, American Art Posters of the 1890s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1987)
Found Poster restores Belle Époque and Art Nouveau posters from museum archives into archival-quality files you print yourself. Browse the archive · How to print & frame.
