Seven decades earlier, Maxfield Parrish's "Daybreak", the first work by the artist created specifically for reproduction as an art print, achieved extraordinary success as a poplar icon. The New York and London - based publishing firm that commissioned the work, the House of Art, estimated that, by 1925, both high- and low-end reproductions of the painting could be found in one out of every four American households.
Calculated to appeal to a broad audience, the popular success of the "Daybreak" prints far exceeded both the artist's and the marketer's expections. According to Coy Ludwig: "College students decorated their rooms with them, people gave them as wedding gifts, hotels exhibited them in thier lobbies, housewives placed them over the mantels - in short, "Daybreak" became the decorating sensation of the decade. Whenever color reproductions were placed in windows of department stores and frame shops, crowds gathered to admire."
