Abril Lamarque papers
name: label: Creator
content: Lamarque, Abril, 1904-1999
label: Names
content: Abril Lamarque Creations
label: Names
content: Art Directors Club (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Bacardí Corporation (Puerto Rico)
label: Names
content: Dell Publishing Company
label: Names
content: International Brotherhood of Magicians
label: Names
content: Iowa State University
label: Names
content: National Press Club (U.S.)
label: Names
content: New York Daily News (Firm)
label: Names
content: New York Times
label: Names
content: Oklahoma State University
label: Names
content: Society of American Magicians
label: Names
content: Society of Illustrators (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: United States. Department of State
label: Names
content: University Club  (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: García Cabral, Ernesto, 1890-1968
label: Names
content: Hoffmaster, Paul
label: Names
content: Kozlowski, Karol, 1885-1969
label: Names
content: Lamarque, Juan Abril
label: Names
content: Lamarque, Milagros Abril
label: Names
content: Massaguer, Conrado Walter, 1889-1965
label: Names
content: Portell-Vilá, Herminio, 1901-1992
label: Names
content: Riverón, Enrique
topic: label: Occupation
content: Cartoonists
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Caricatures and cartoons
label: Topic
content: Designers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Magicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
label: Topic
content: Art directors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Graphic arts
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Martha Lamarque Sarno and Lita M. Elvers assembled and donated their father's papers to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in 2001. Sarno donated a small addition in 2023.
creator: label: Creator
content: Lamarque, Abril, 1904-1999
setName: label: See more items in
content: Abril Lamarque papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director Abril Lamarque papers date from 1883-2013, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1904-1999, and measure 7.2 linear feet. His papers contain biographical material; correspondence; writings; files on the many seminars and workshop he taught; scattered financial records; files concerning his business Abril Lamarque Creations; subject files; clippings; printed illustrations of his comics, designs, illustrations, and other work; seven scrapbooks; two sketchbooks, sketches and drawings by him, and artwork by others, including his sister, his brother, Paul Hoffmaster, Enrique Riverón, and H. Portell Vilá; and photographs and negatives depicting Lamarque, Lamarque at work, Lamarque's magic shows, examples of advertising, and friends and colleagues.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Eduardo Abril Lamarque (1904-1999) was a Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director who worked primarily in New York City. 


Eduardo Abril Lamarque was born in Cuba on August 28, 1904. His parents sent him to the United States in 1916 when he was twelve to study English and business administration. He lived with an American family in Brooklyn. At age 15, Lamarque's first cartoon was published in the Boy Scout section of the New York World-Telegram and Evening Mail. Four years later he created Bla-Bla, a comic strip that appeared regularly in the New York Daily News. He is credited with creating, in the early 1920s, the first Spanish language comic strip that was not translated from English. The title cartoon character, Monguito, was a hapless soul, fully dressed in business suit and hat, who kept getting into sticky situations. Lamarque produced hundreds of these strips which were picked up by the New York based United Feature Syndicate and published daily in Spanish language newspapers throughout Latin America and the United States.


When he was twenty, Lamarque returned to Cuba to work as the artistic director for the Havana newspaper Lunes de Diario de Cuba. He also published a booklet designed to teach the elements of caricature drawing. Lamarque returned to New York and was hired by the New York World Telegram and Evening Mail as a caricaturist. He produced political cartoons and caricatures for the paper, introducing his "radiocatures", which involved providing instructions on the radio for filling in a grid in the newspaper to produce a caricature of well-known figure in the news.


In 1927, at the age of 23, he became the first art director of Dell Publishing Company - a magazine empire that included Film Fun, I Confess, War Stories, Modern Screen, Popular Song, Spotlight, Radio Stars, Theatrical Page, Ballyhoo, and Modern Romances. He continued working there for 14 years.


In 1940-1941, Lamarque established Abril Lamarque Creations, a design firm that specialized in elegant and functional household objects and jewelry in a modernist tradition. His signature piece was the Pallettray, a serving tray modeled after an artist's palette and hand-finished in exotic woods.


Between 1941 and 1946, Lamarque became the first art director for the Sunday edition of the New York Times and redesigned the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review. Throughout his career, Lamarque designed and redesigned countless magazines and journals, including American Weekly, New York News, Metropolitan Life, Popular Science, This Week, US News-World Report, and others.


In 1948, Lamarque established a successful graphic design studio in New York that provided a full spectrum of design services, including annual reports, posters, product labeling, corporate publications, advertising, logos, package designs, and brochures. His clients included Barcardi Company, Con Edison, Ericcson Telephone, General Cable, Berlitz School, Lipton, Monsanto, and numerous magazines. In 1958, he was given the National Award for Graphic Design in packaging. His design for the annual American Red Cross poster was selected for the 1948 national Red Cross campaign.


His success and high demand as a publication art director, consultant, and designer was attributed to innovative design principles he based on the German Bauhaus School and its philosophy that promoted functional design principles. Lamarque reduced these principles to a set of guidelines suitable for page design and applied them successfully to a wide variety of publication and print layouts.


Lamarque's teaching experience began in the early 1940s with seminars and workshops he conducted for the publishing industry. He joined the faculty of New York University School of Continuing Education in 1958, where he taught until 1963, and later joined the Crowell Collier Institute and taught publication design workshops across the United States and Canada. He also gave workshops and courses at Oklahoma State School of Journalism.


Lamarque was a long-time member of the Society of Illustrators, Society of Art Directors, the Dutch Treat Club, National Press Club, and New York University Club. He was also an amateur magician and member of the Society of American Magicians. He performed magic acts for the annual Christmas party of the Society of Illustrators. Abril Lamarque died in 1999 at the age of 94.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7.2 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1883-2013
label: Date
content: bulk 1904-1999
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.lamaabri
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Drawings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as twelve series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1889-2001 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1, OV 12, Box 20)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-2003 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, OV 12, Box 20)

Series 3: Writings, 1925-1981 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2, OV 13, Box 20)

Series 4: Workshops, circa 1940-circa 1985 (0.4 linear feet; Box 2, OV 13, Box 20)

Series 5: Financial Records, 1924-1989 (5 folders; Box 2, Box 20)

Series 6: Abril Lamarque Creations, circa 1940-circa 1945 (0.1 linear feet; Box 2, OV 13, Box 20)

Series 7: Subject Files, 1905-1996 (0.5 linear feet; Box 4, OV 14, Box 20)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1883-2013 (1.6 linear feet; Box 3, 4, 6, and 11, OV 15-17, Box 20)

Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1920-1959 (1 linear foot; Boxes 7-9, OV 10)

Series 10: Original Artwork, circa 1914-1988 (0.5 linear feet; Box 4, OV 18, Box 20)

Series 11: Photographic Material, circa 1920-circa 1985 (0.5 linear feet; Box 5, OV 19, Box 20)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The Abril Lamarque papers were processed by Rosa M. Fernandez, July, 2002. In 2016, the collection was prepared for digitization, and the arrangement and description was revised by Megan Burdi. The collection was scanned in 2016. Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. An addition to the collection was processed, and the finding aid updated by Ricky Gomez in 2023.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The collection was digitized in 2016 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website. The collection was scanned in its entirety, with the exception of duplicates and blank pages. Printed materials may have their covers, titles, copyright information, and/or relevant pages scanned. The 2023 addition has not been digitized.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of Cuban born cartoonist, caricaturist, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director Abril Lamarque papers date from 1883-2013, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1904-1999, and measure 7.2 linear feet. His papers contain biographical material; correspondence; writings; files on the many seminars and workshops he taught; scattered financial records; files concerning his business Abril Lamarque Creations; subject files; clippings; printed illustrations of his comics, designs, illustrations, and other work; seven scrapbooks; two sketchbooks, sketches and drawings by him, and others, including his sister, his brother, Paul Hoffmaster, Enrique Riverón, and H. Portell Vilá; and photographs and negatives depicting Lamarque, Lamarque at work, Lamarque's magic shows, examples of advertising, and friends and colleagues.   


Biographical materials include of materials related to Abril Lamarque's many professional and personal associations, including the Art Directors Club, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the National Press Club, the New York University Club, the Society of American Magicians, and the Society of Illustrators. Material types include membership cards, documents, event posters, and yearbooks. Also included are some personal documents, information on Abril Lamarque and his family, Lamarque's collection of humorous business cards, and eulogies written about Lamarque. Materials in addition include family histories, naturalization and death certificstes, and obituaries.


Correspondence is generally scattered, but includes letters to and from illustrators and artists including Ernesto Garcia Cabral, Paul Hoffmaster, Conrado Massaguer, and Lamarque's brother, Juan Abril Lamarque. Some letters are illustrated. Also included is business correspondence, subjects and correspondents including the Dell Publishing Company, the New York Times, and correspondence related to workshops and lectures, including his work at Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University. 


Writings chiefly document Lamarque's career in graphic and publication design, and consist of articles, an unpublished draft on publication design, manuals, and book reviews. Also included are scripts for magic shows performed by Lamarque. Writings by others are present, and include limericks written about Lamarque by friends and an autobiography of Lamarque's wife, Milagros Abril Lamarque. Materials in addition include Milagro's autobiography, notes by Milagro, and a preface on Abril for an unpublished book by Otto Storch.


The Workshops series consists of advertisements, press releases, handbooks, publication design layout examples, and other materials related to Lamarque's career in teaching publication design workshops and seminars. Also present within the collection are various financial materials.  Abril Lamarque Creations materials document Lamarque's design firm, active 1940-1941, which focused on the design and manufacture of modern decorative accessories for the home, such as serving trays, cigarette holders and jewelry. Photographs, drawings, and advertisements in this series document the product design and sales.


The collection includes several subject files concerning the Bacardi Company, the Dell Publishing Company, and Cuban caricaturist and publisher Conrado Massaguer. Files on Massaguer include illustrations, posters, magazines, clippings, and articles. The Subject Files also include materials collected about Mexican caricaturist Ernesto García, self-taught Polish painter Karol Kozlowski, and several other illustrators and political figures of interest to Lamarque.


Printed materials make up the bulk of the collection. Found are numerous examples of his design work for the New York World-Telegram and Evening Mail, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, US News-World Report, Dell Publishing Company, and others; as well as cartoons, caricatures, and illustrations by Lamarque. Clippings of the comic strip Monguito and editions of the Havana newspaper Lunes de Diario de Cuba are present. Printed material also includes posters, including Lamarque's designs for the "Aluminum for Britain" project, which he was asked to discontinue by the U.S. State Department. Also found in this collection are graphic design and illustration clippings collected by Lamarque. Materials in the addition include clippings, newsletters, and articles by Lamarque.


Also found within the collection are seven scrapbooks containing clippings and articles, illustrations, scattered letters, photographs, invitations, artwork, and other materials detailing Lamarque's extensive artistic career and his amateur magic performances.


Original artwork includes drawings, sketches, prints, and design by-products by Abril Lamarque. Artwork by Lamarque includes silkscreens of dictators; drawings and printing plates for Monguito comics; page banners for  Film Fun  and other publications; and design paste-ups. Artwork created by others found within the series includes caricatures of Lamarque, sketches by Juan Abril Lamarque, and prints by Paul Hoffmaster.


Photographs included in the collection document Abril Lamarque's life and career, and show Lamarque with friends and colleagues, and performing as an amateur magician for both children and adult audiences.