The Golden Griffin Gallery operated in New York City from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the 1950s, the Gallery formed a partnership with Pellerin Imagerie, becoming the sole distributor for Pellerin Imagerie in North America.

 

In 1796, Jean Charles Pellerin set up the “Imagerie d’Epinal” and popularized printed images of everyday scenes. In 1810, Imagerie d’Epinal made woodcuts of Napoleon by Francois Georgin, a renowned engraver of that time. These were printed on Arches paper, from the town of Arches. In 1880, Imagerie began to print flyers for businesses and political parties, alphabet literature and other educational materials, riddles, illustrated songs, paper cutouts and plates of soldiers. “Le Chat Botte,” “Cadet Roussel” and “Pierrete” were books made at that time. Between 1880 and WWI, Imagerie sold more than 10 million pictures per year worldwide and in many languages. These pochoir (hand painted using templates) woodcuts of military subjects, Napoleonic history, storybook characters and other folk themes were widely distributed throughout the 19th century.