100 Years of Illustration

Enjoy your vacation with William J. Aylward

"Castle Island [Boston Harbor] where the ships go by" is the title and it's from The Port of the Puritans, by Winfield M. Thompson, published in the August 1911 edition of Harper's Monthly Magazine. 

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Thompson was a travel writer with a vast knowledge of Maine and New England, to judge from the Google entries in his name. I have no bio information on him and we don't much about Bill Aylward, who was one of the great painters and illustrators of his time. There should be no argument there. I'm using examples of his work to set the tone for August vacations. I hope you have an enjoyable one. Meanwhile, here's a link to some previous material I've posted here about Aylward and his excellent work.

"The Waterside Life at Mystic [Connecticut] is a happy blending of old and new" also by Winfield M. Thompson from the September 1916 edition of Harper's Monthly Magazine.

  

"Lovely Nantucket is the aristocrat of the coast towns," by Mary Heaton Vorse, from the December 1918 edition of Harper's Monthly Magazine. I haven't been there for a few years but I can't imagine that this view and others like it have changed much since then -- even if there is a blight on the island of huge ugly trophy homes.

"New Bedford Whalers -- the last of a gallant but passing race," from the same article. 

Enjoy Your Summer (while you can). Labor Day 2008

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John Falter 1910-1982

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How silly can advertising be? Even in the midst of huge bloodletting and maiming that took place throughout World War II, the pointy heads of ad managers and account executives prevailed at the expense of our uniformed military. Not to mention commandeering the skills of our most talented illustrators. This is a prime example: the client is major tobacco placing its ads on Madison Avenue to promote a cigarette that is promoted to be "one millimeter longer," if I can recall the pitch. The illustrator is the famous John Falter.

Can you imagine that this young officer about to be shipped out to invade a Pacific island would be comparing the length of cigarettes with his drop-dead gorgeous date? Illustrator John Falter, whom Norman Rockwell called America's most gifted illustrator, did any number of great covers for the old Saturday Evening Post and ended his days as an easel painter of distinction. I think his female model here was none other than Lisa Fonssagrives (1911-1982) who may have been the first supermodel in this country. 

For more about John Philip Falter click on these links: Illustration House and Nebraska Studies.