A luminious beautiful original published mixed medium calendar illustration which appeared with the title Evening Reveries in the 1921 “Indian Maids” calendar line, for Gerlach-Barklow of Joliet Illinois. This was created by James Arthur who worked in a style like that of of L. Goddard, where a base photograph was lavishly over-painted by the artist to create the commercial published calendar illustration. The scene shows an idealized indian maiden in pristine nature illustrating a stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Maidenhood.”  The 1920s/1930s saw a surge in popularity of romanticized images of mythologically depicted Native American princess figures. In the frenzied post-Great War machine age, nostalgia for pre-modern imagery was high, and the indian maiden gained popularity as a ideal in opposition to both the modern independent flapper and the outmoded and prudish Victorian woman.  This is framed in a beautiful period 1920s American Arts & Crafts aesthetic gesso frame and the sale includes a vintage published titled print of the image.