1900 The Antikamnia Calendar for the year 1901
DESCRIPTION
The final installment of Louis Crusius's celebrated skeleton illustrations, this complete 1901 Antikamnia Calendar brings an extraordinary series of medical advertising artwork to a close.
Featuring four wonderfully humorous color lithographs, the calendar depicts skeletons enjoying everyday activities, from relaxing after the holidays and playing a banjo to working behind a pharmacy counter. The final illustration presents a medical professor examining a skeleton, accompanied by a darkly humorous exchange with his student.
The Final Skeleton Sketches of Louis Crusius
The calendar was issued by the Antikamnia Chemical Company of St. Louis, Missouri, a prominent manufacturer of proprietary pain and fever remedies. The company's promotional calendars featured the distinctive artwork of physician and artist Louis Crusius (1862–1898), whose illustrations combined medical anatomy, contemporary fashions and an unmistakable sense of humor. His expressive skeletons became a memorable feature of American pharmaceutical advertising at the turn of the twentieth century.
Of particular importance is the original Christmas 1900 introductory letter, which explains that Crusius had died in 1898 and that the four illustrations reproduced here completed his celebrated series. The company acknowledged that the remaining watercolors allowed it to produce only four illustrated sheets rather than the customary six. This makes the 1901 calendar a particularly meaningful conclusion to Crusius's work for Antikamnia.
The four illustrations cover three months each, while the reverse sides carry advertisements for the company's medicinal preparations, including Antikamnia tablets and combinations containing codeine and quinine. The calendar survives complete with its original string binding and introductory letter, preserving both the whimsical artwork and the fascinating promotional history of one of America's best-known early pharmaceutical companies.
CONDITION
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