The Beggarstaffs, otherwise J. & W. Beggarstaff, was the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

used by the British artists William Nicholson and

James Pryde James Ferrier Pryde (1866–1941) was a British artist. A number of his paintings are in public collections, but there have been few exhibitions of his work. He is principally remembered as one of the Beggarstaffs, his artistic partnership wi ...

for their collaborative partnership in the design of posters and other graphic work between 1894 and 1899. They are sometimes referred to as the Beggarstaff Brothers, but did not use this name.

The partnership

Portrait of James Pryde by William Nicholson, 1899

William Nicholson met his future wife Mabel "Prydie" Pryde in 1888 or 1889 at

Hubert Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

's art school at

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow re ...

Herts Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, where both were students. He met her elder brother James, who was also an artist, at about the same time. In 1893, Nicholson and Prydie eloped and were secretly married at

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London, and in the historic county of Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

on 25 April. They went to live in what had been a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the Eight Bells at Denham, Bucks. James Pryde soon visited them, and stayed for almost two years. Other visitors to the house included the actor

Edward Gordon Craig Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and ...

and his wife May, who had also recently eloped and were living in a cottage in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

rented from Craig's mother, the famous actress

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

. In the summer of 1894 Craig was preparing to go on tour with the Shakespearean Company of W.S. Hardy, for whom he was to play, among other rôles, that of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. The part was an important one for him, and he asked Pryde and Nicholson to design and produce a poster to publicise the production. It was their first collaboration. The initial design was made partly by

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, the hair and clothing of Craig as Hamlet cut from plain black paper; the life-sized figure in the printed version used to publicise the play was

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

led on brown wrapping-paper by Nicholson, with some details added by hand. The original design is untraced; however, it was reproduced in four publications: in the ''Magazine of Art'' of January 1895, on page 117; in ''La Plume'' of 1 October 1895, on page 427; in ''Pictorial Posters'' by Charles Hiatt, published 1895, on page 239; and in '' The Poster'' of February 1899, on page 50. No copy of the theatrical poster used to publicise the play is known to survive, but its appearance is known from its publication in ''Pan'' in February 1896, on page 333; it has "W.S. Hardy's Company" lettered across the top and is unsigned. Another version of the poster, signed but without the "Hardy's" lettering, may have been produced for sale to collectors. An example is in the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; this version was printed in facsimile in 1898 in Paris by the Imprimerie Chaix as plate 107 of ''

Les Maîtres de l'Affiche ''Maîtres de l'Affiche'' (Masters of the Poster) refers to 256 color lithographic plates used to create an art publication during the Belle Époque in Paris, France. The collection, reproduced from the original works of ninety-seven artists in a ...

''. The last version of the ''Hamlet'' poster is signed, by hand, "J. W. Beggarstaff Denham Uxbridge". According to Nicholson, the Beggarstaff pseudonym was chosen after "Pryde and I came across it one day in an old stable, on a sack of fodder"; Pryde gave a similar, though slightly different, explanation. At about the same time, the Beggarstaffs designed and printed a poster showing Craig in another of his leading rôles on the same tour with Hardy's company, that of Charles Surface in Sheridan's ''

School for Scandal ''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sna ...

''. It also was probably stencilled on brown paper. It does not survive in any form; Craig described it as "absolutely splendid". The Hamlet poster was shown at the International Artistic Pictorial Poster Exhibition at the

Royal Aquarium The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a place of amusement in Westminster, London. It opened in 1876, and the building was demolished in 1903. The attraction was located northwest of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was design ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

in November 1894.

Works

The works that the Beggarstaffs are known to have made are, according to Campbell: *''Hamlet'', poster for W.S. Hardy Shakespeare Co., 1894. *''The School for Scandal'', poster for W.S. Hardy Shakespeare Co., 1894. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Becket'', poster design for Henry Irving as ''Becket'', Lyceum Theatre, c. 1894. *''Nobody’s Washing Blue'', poster design, 1894. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Nobody’s Candles'', poster design, 1894. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Nobody’s Niggers'', poster design, 1894. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Nobody’s Pianos'', poster design, 1894. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Kassama Corn Flour'', poster for a Glasgow firm, 1894. *''Children Playing'', decorative screen, 1895. *''Chinaman'', poster design, 1895. *''The Hour Illustrated'', contents bill for ''The Hour Illustrated'' magazine, 1895. *''Girl Reading'', poster design for Macmillan Publishers, 1895. Untraced. *''Don Quixote'', poster design for Henry Irving, 1895. *''Roundhead'', poster design, 1895. Untraced. *''Harper’s Magazine'', poster for Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1895. *''Coachman'', poster design, 1895. Untraced. *''Cinderella'', poster for the Artistic Supply Company, 1895. *''Queen Victoria'', poster design, 1895. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Girl and Screen'', poster design, 1896. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Man and Map'', poster design, 1896. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa'', poster for H.I. Rowntree & Co., 1896. *''The Quiver'', poster design for ''

The Quiver ''The Quiver'' (18611956) was a weekly magazine published by Cassell's and was "designed for the defence and promotion of biblical truth and the advance of religion in the homes of the people." History John Cassell (18171865), the English publ ...

'' poster competition, 1897. Lost, untraced, appearance unknown. *''The Goat'', painted signboard for a pub, 1896/7. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''The Black and White Gallery'', painted signboard for Louis Meyer, 1897 or later. Untraced, appearance unknown. *''Girl on Horseback'', oil painting, 1898. Untraced, appearance unknown. * Cover design and 10 illustrations for ''Tony Drum: A Cockney Boy'' by Edwin Pugh, 1898. *''Robespierre'', poster design for Henry Irving, 1899. Unpublished. *''The Coach and Horses'', painted signboard, 1900 or later. The Beggarstaffs were known for their new technique, collage, using cut pieces of paper moved around on a board leaving a figure incomplete for the viewer to decipher. This is shown in the poster for Kassama Corn Flour where only black and yellow is used. They completely ignored the floral trend of art nouveau, which made their work although an artistic success, a financial disaster. One of the posters they lost money on was their most famous poster, Don Quixote, made for Sir Henry Irving's production at the Lyceum Theatre. It was never printed because the client decided, "it had a bad likeness". Incidents like these caused the partnership to split and left each artist to work on their own. Les Maîtres de l'Affiche ''Maîtres de l'Affiche'' (Masters of the Poster) refers to 256 color lithographic plates used to create an art publication during the Belle Époque in Paris, France. The collection, reproduced from the original works of ninety-seven artists in a ...

The partnership

Works

References

External links