Meserole, Harriet (1893-1989)

Dates

• Existence: 1893 - 1989

Biography

Harriet Meserole’s elegant fashion illustrations occupied a prominent place in early twentieth-century American fashion publishing. Active from 1915 through the 1950s, she is best remembered for her Vogue covers produced during the interwar years, though her career extended across a wide range of publications and commercial formats.

Harriet Meserole was born in Troy, NY, in 1893. Shortly after her father’s death when she was 19 years old, she entered a three-year illustration program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, taking a variety of art courses including fashion illustration.

For a few years starting in 1915 Harriet worked as an artist for Wanamaker’s department store. She also began to see her work published in the pages of various popular magazines of the time, including Puck. After spending quite some effort submitting her artwork to Vogue’s offices for consideration, the publication chose one of her illustrations for the February 1, 1919 issue’s cover.

Harriet’s last cover for Vogue was published in June, 1930, the same year that illustrator Carl Erickson (better known as Eric), with his much looser and more expressive artistic style, debuted on the publication’s cover. Two years later, the July 20, 1932 issue of Vogue presented its first photographic, graphically-striking cover image taken by Edward Steichen. As photographs began to dominate fashion journalism, Meserole transitioned her Vogue-related illustrative work exclusively to Conde Nast’s Vogue Pattern Book. All the while, she retained many clients, continuing to freelance.

Later in her career, Meserole dove into surface design after winning honorable mention in a competition held by the Museum of Modern Art called "Organic Design in Home Furnishings." Two of her designs were exhibited, attracting the attention of wallpaper company Katzenbach & Warren, Inc., which hired her to create additional work. She also delved into textile design for fashion designer Joseph Whitehead in the 1940s.

Meserole stopped working for Conde Nast titles in the 1950s after a thirty-year relationship. She fully retired in 1964, although she continued to design cards and children’s books privately. She passed away in 1989.

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