We've seen the great characterization work of Florence Scovel Shinn and others uploaded into this blog, and while such realistic portrayals of our fellow man by equally competent illustrators continued -- and I'll get to them for certain later on -- I want to document what happened at the beginning of the slide to the simpering smiling faces we've been subjected to in all forms of advertising and sales promotion. This is an ad produced for the Pontiac division of General Motors which appeared in print in 1944.
Click on images to enlarge them.
G.I. Joe, from Central Casting. For an image of what dogfaces really looked like in their battle gear, see the work of Bill Mauldin.
His identical twin in the U.S. Marine Corps
Another handsome devil of a male model posing as a merchant mariner. I have never in my life seen a tassel on a navy watch cap worn by an American.
Of course all the members of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) were as fetching as this female model.
And Lord knows how much we love nurses, this lovely creature an angel indeed.
First of all, I'm sorry to take so long in answering your question, Robert. It came in at Christmas and got neglected. The illustrator is Boris Artzybasheff. Wikipedia has information on him at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artzybasheff
I'm familiar with his work and not a big fan of excessive noodling, as we called it at the time. His work I thought too grotesque as well.
Posted by: Paul Giambarba | April 02, 2011 at 04:11 PM
I am trying to recall the name and find the work of a wonderful illustrator and cartoonist whose work was featured regularly in Time & Life, especially during WWII.
He specialized in anthropomorphized tanks and planes and ships. I'm sure the man is quite well known to anyone who knows the history of American illustration. It was Arzy-something-- a long, unusual name.
Do you know who I'm trying to remember?
Posted by: Robert Chandler | December 24, 2008 at 11:01 AM