Louis Meyer (1869 – 1969) - American Artist and Sculptor

 With thanks to Chris Dubbs* for finding this “Puck” magazine of August 1917 - cover artwork by American artist and sculptor Louis Meyer (1869 – 1969) and poem “Patria’s Progress No. 3” by American Berton Braley (1882 – 1966)

Born in Milwaukee, Louis Mayer studied at the Wisconsin Art Institute, before traveling to Europe where he attended the Weimar Art School and the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the Académie Julian in Paris. He returned to his home state, taught at the Wisconsin School of Art, and help found the Society of Milwaukee Artists. He later moved to Fishkill, New York, where he took up sculpting. Eventually he settled in Carmel, California.

“Puck” was the first successful humour magazine published in the United States containing colourful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day. It was founded in 1871 as a German-language publication by Joseph Keppler, an Austrian-born cartoonist. The first English language edition of “Puck” was published in 1877, covering issues like New York City's Tammany Hall, presidential politics, and social issues of the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The magazine ceased publication in 1918.

"Puckish" means "childishly mischievous". This led Shakespeare's Puck (from his play “A Midsummer Night's Dream”) to be recast as a charming boy and used as the title of the magazine. “Puck” was the first magazine to carry illustrated advertising and the first to successfully adopt full-color lithography printing for a weekly publication.

* Chris Dubbs is the author of several WW1 books:

"An Unladylike Profession: American Women

War Correspondents in World War 1"

(Potomac Books, Nebraska, 2020)

and

"American Women Reporters in World War One"