Magazine of Art

The Magazine established in May 1878 echoed to some degree the coverage and format of The Art Journal. the art critic Liela Rumbaugh Greiman, in her article ‘William Ernest Henley & The Magazine of Art’ published in the 'Victorian Periodicals Review' Vol. 16, No. 2, Summer, 1983, comments that The Magazine of Art had a tangible influence upon popular artistic taste and that it included among its contributors some of the best essayists and critics of the late Victorian period. Under Henley’s editorship, the Magazine changed from being an 'insular, uninspired trade journal, into a lively, cosmopolitan review of the arts containing criticism, prose, and poetry of lasting worth'. During the seventeen years of Spielmann’s editorship, many of the leading artists and critics of the day, notably John Ruskin, were commissioned to write articles for the periodical. By 1904, the Magazine, like The Art Journal, found it increasingly difficult to compete with some of the more powerful new rivals such as the Studio Magazine and as a consequence ceased publication.

Its editors were in turn Arthur James Richens Trendell (1836-1909) from 1878 to 1880; Eric Robertson in 1880-81; William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) from 1881 to 1886; Sidney Galpin in 1886; and Marion Harry Spielmann (1858-1948) from 1886 to 1904. It was published monthly by Cassell & Co. and was distributed in London and New York and ceased publication in July 1904.