Featured Picture/artist identification

Hello all,
I came across these pieces in my grandparents home and know nothing about them. Can anyone identify these pieces or at least who the artist is? Thanks in advance

 

Welcome, Tom! These have the look of studies for illustration art or possibly advertising art. Can you post a closer pic (and therefore larger size) of the signature on both of them?

 

Thanks for such a quick reply! It appears the name could be Williams?

 

Honestly, I see "Williams" with an extra squiggle and looked that up under fashion/commercial illustration, but didn't find anything... Now realizing the subject matter of card games is probably the best way to go...

Guessing we're not done, yet @Tom Gilmore

Maybe others will join in?

 

The card game are they playing may be a clue... Circa 1900

 

I think it's late 1920s commercial art, but I found nothing to match.

TYPO: Meant late 1910s.

 

hmm. Now I'm looking at the dresses. hmmm. @Figtree3 do you have thoughts on dating these clothes?

 

I keep thinking something like this, but I'm getting nowhere.

 

Jivvy gets the prize! Well, maybe that's an overstatement, but this is absolutely on the right track!

 

I would go with first decade of the 20th century. 1901-1910 ish... especially for the first one. The woman's hairstyle and the "pouter pigeon" look of the top of her dress both lead to that idea. And the other pic has less of those two things but it appears they generally come from the same era.

That being said, I don't know if they were made then or are later prints.

 

It could also be 'William S.' (sans dot) The illustrations are good quality and stylistically a bit Gibson Girl-y - agree with @Figtree3 these illustrations are pre-WW1, in my mind typically "Edwardian"