(*Portrait and bio taken with permission from Michael Sull’s Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, Volume I.)
Louis Madarasz
(1860-1910)
The man
who, above all others, is universally regarded as the most highly skilled
ornamental penman that ever lived, Louis Madarasz, was born in San Antonia,
Texas on January 20, 1859. He obtained a copy of Gaskell's Compendium of
Penmanship when he was in his teens. Studying the text by himself, he achieved
a degree of skill in ornamental writing that was remarkable for one so young.
Such self-discipline and persistence were instrumental in Madarasz's desire to
master the art of penmanship.
In the
late 1870's he enrolled as a student at the Rochester Business University in
Rochester, New York. While attending this institution, his facility with the
pen earned him a reputation throughout the state. During the years that
followed, Madarasz took on penmanship positions at a number of institutions.
His wanderings eventually led him to Manchester, New Hampshire the location of
Gaskell's penmanship school. Besides being an accomplished master penman,
Gaskell was also a businessman who recognized advertising opportunities.
Madarasz, whose fame as a penman was fairly widespread by this time, also
recognized the opportunity to further his own skills by being associated with
Gaskell. It was a good association for both men, and soon the famous signature
of Madarasz appeared on the advertisements for Gaskell's Compendium. Madarasz
stayed with Gaskell for several years, learning much about advertising and the
business of mail order.
As time
went by, Madarasz again moved from one institution and town to another. He
seemed to have a restless spirit in this regard, and seldom stayed anywhere
longer than a few years. He worked in Sterling, Illinois; Jersey City, New
Jersey; and Poughkeepsie, New York. Regarding his social interests, he enjoyed
chess and other board games, and was quite skilled at playing them. He also
enjoyed the theater, not only as a spectator, but as an actor. He once studied
under a professional thespian and even had a part in a stage performance. This
interest was, however, only temporary in the penman's life and he soon went
back to his love and profession of penmanship with greater zeal then ever
before.
Over the
years, Madarasz never tired of traveling, working and teaching. He had
incredible energy to devote to penmanship, and the quality of his work never
faltered. His speed of execution was reputed to be faster than any penman,
before or since. His style was unique, a dramatic, rather heavily shaded
variety of ornamental writing. it has been said that Madarasz's penmanship
style was copied by more penmen than that of any other. In 1908-1909, Madarasz
involved himself in a most ambitious project to earn money. He purchased large,
new scrapbooks of two hundred pages each. He then filled each page of the books
with his own penmanship. To do this he copied his own business letters,
correspondence, writing lessons and display writing and pasted them, one by
one, upon each page. He advertised them as the Madarasz Scrapbooks, and sold
them for $45; $25 to be paid as a deposit, and then $5 per month on the
balance. In all he sold perhaps a dozen such books. Only one of these is known
to be in existence today, and much of it has been reproduced in Volume Two of
this text.
The last
few years of Madarasz's life were spent in a business association in Goldfield,
Nevada. It was there that health problems began to plague the penman. After a
severe bout with pneumonia, Madarasz became diabetic and never regained his
formally healthy physique. Quoting from The Secret Of The Skill Of Madarasz, a
book published by the Zaner-Bloser Company in 1911 as a tribute to the great
penman: "He passed away quietly on December 23, 1910, having on the day he
was stricken written a Christmas greeting in that beautiful clean cut style of
penmanship which has been copied by so many thousand aspirants during the past
thirty years. At his request his body was cremated. His ashes rest in the
beautiful Columbarium at Fresh Pond, Long Island. His epitaph reads:
'In
memory of a brave and gentleman whose love of Truth and justice made him an
Inspiration to all who knew him. He put his house in order, his work was
done."'
