The Studio Magazine

The founder and first editor, Charles Holme first published the decorative arts and fine arts magazine in 1893, which was packed full of long-form and various other types of illustrations. With its longer, more mouth full of a name as ‘The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art’ it vasty become a magazine that people desperately wanted and it has notably had a major influence on the development of the Arts and craft movement for the last 100 years.

Although originally being produced in Britain, it has had worldwide recognition due to the value which is provided as well as the famous critics which partaked over the years, which obviously brought in a wider audience, these being the likes of Aymer Vallance, Fernand Knopff and many more.

It also played a major part in introudcing the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Charles Voysey as the magizines scope was to promote ‘New art’ artists, designers and architecters to a bigger audience, Charles Geoffrey Holme, Charles Holme’s son carried on this scope when he took over the lead editing role once his father had to retire due to health reasons.

The Studio Magazine Archive

Original editions of The Studio Magazine are rare to come by, mainly due to how old the series is as this also means that having an official printed copy will be very expensive and will most likely put a huge hole in your pocket. But because we are on the internet, with some quick google searching, we have found various places you can find The Studio Magazine Archive which will allow you to read editions of The Studio Magazine Online.

The Studio an Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art: Notable Editions

As you can imagine, a magazine that was in publications for just over 70 years has had a lot of editions, favourable by some and not so favourable by others. However, there has been a few editions that have stuck out and are specifically sort for still till this very day. We will go over the certain editions and point out a few reasons why they are so cherished by many as well as a link to a place where you can access the archive and download it for yourself

The Studio Magazine 1893

One of the main reason why this is still a much search for the edition is that of the inclusion of the early Aubrey Beardsley, who was an up and coming English Illustrator and Author. He drew in black ink and was influenced and absolutely infatuated with Japanese Woodcuts which heavily emphasised the decadent and the erotic. He was also the main leader in the movement of aesthetic design.

Now if you didn’t know, Aubrey Vicnet Beardly sadly passed at the ripe age of 25, due to an unfortunate cause of tuberculosis which could not be presented, and just like most artists of his years, he is widely popular due of course his absolutely breathtaking work but as well as his sad early parting on earth.

However, this is just one reason why The Studio Magazine 1893 was so cherished, there are many more reasons as to why people may want to read and learn from a magazine even 100 years after it had first been published. You can find and download this edition right here.

The Studio Magazine 1901

Unlike 1893, The Studio Magazine 1901 editions feature no one sole that lead to its success, rather it talks about a style of art and illustration that is widely used today; portraits. In-depth, this magazine shows the reader many different portraits of normal and famous people, like social proofing or real-world examples and discusses there style and how they achieve a certain look with the tools that they used.

Portrait art is probably one of the most common illustration techniques today and I am in doubt as to this being the main reason why the 1901 edition was so popular.

If you’re interested in learning some world renown portraying techniques from the best artists and illustrators of their time, you can download the online version of the magazine here.