James Pryde and William Nicholson first made their names during the 1890s as poster designers. Under the pseudonym J & W Beggarstaff, the two men collaborated on a series of revolutionary posters whose style was characterized by bold silhouettes, simplified forms and pure, flat colours. Their first work together was for a production of Hamlet in which their friend Edward Gordon Craig, took the title role, and it made them famous overnight. The Beggarstaffs' work was acclaimed by critics of the time and became sought after by collectors. By the time of the dissolution of the partnership their work had influenced many European and American designers and today they are rightly regarded as important pioneers of the modern pictorial advertisement.