In the late 1930s, Quaintance was busily designing women's hairstyles and department store windows. At that time he also drew a series of faces that appeared on soap wrappers, novel dust jackets and as a series of lithographs. One of his employers was Robert of Fifth Avenue, located at 675 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Different versions exist of these lithographs. In this article we'll consider Reverie and Illusion. Each shows a pair of disembodied male and female faces. The faces in Illusion are so androgynous that many viewers assume it is a lesbian couple. That would have been extraordinary for the time, since these lithographs were openly offered for sale in New York department stores. In both lithographs, the faces are complemented by flowers: water lilies in Illusion and petunias or hibiscus flowers in Reverie.
One version of the lithographs, not shown here, clearly shows the vertical Quaintance signature. It is printed on ivory paper in sepia ink. The printer is not indicated. A second version states the title of each work, a 1938 copyright date, the dimensions (24x24 inches) and "by the House of Shaw." I only have a poor black and white snapshot of the pair, framed, hanging on a wall. They appear to be unsigned.
The third variation, also in deep sepia, bears the inscription "Copyright 1938 by William A. Reynolds Jr., New York" in the lower right corner of each. These prints also measure 24x24 inches. For a long time a seller was offering these on eBay. They do not display any signature.
The most stunning variation of these lithographs exists as hand-colored prints, with pigment applied directly on the lithograph. These were sent to me by separate readers of this blog. Each carries a vertical signature, in blue, which suggests that they were produced from the first style described above. I have never actually seen one of these, but they must be quite rare.
This article was updated on June 3, 2017.